Stoke's most difficult pre season fixture against the favourites for the division above, saw them slip to their first pre season defeat in a game where the result did not reflect either their share of possession or the chances created. Played at a tremendous pace throughout, Stoke drew first blood on 6 minutes when Ty Hawken capitalised on defensive uncertainty, outpaced the Saltash defence and shot past Kenny Griffiths in the visitors goal. The lead was short lived however as a dubious free kick award on the edge of the Stoke penalty area on 11 minutes saw them slow to react in establishing a defensive wall and having curled the kick against Mark Coombe's near post, opposing striker Glen Palmer reacted quickest to tap home from close range. With Craig Duff and Mark Newbould bossing the midfield and the 3 man rearguard of Martin Sutcliffe, Liam Collings and Simon Armstrong shackling the formidable Saltash strike pairing of Palmer and Chris Wright, Stoke had the better of the rest of the first half with Louis Robinson creating many chances down the left without ever forcing a save from Griffiths. Punishment for this wastefulness came on 40 minutes when Saltash took the lead after a glancing header from a corner was side footed home at the far post. The second half started poorly for Stoke with the visitors increasing their lead on 52 minutes when a long ball was controlled by the arm of Carlton Farnham who turned and drove home despite much protestation from Coombe and Sutcliffe . The introduction of new centre backs Rob Skornia and Ashley Grimes was never going to be easy as the game continued at a frantic pace and before they had chance to touch the ball Saltash increased their lead when Ollie Critchlow's challenge was evaded by Farnham whose angled shot from 12 yards beat Coombe at the near post. Stoke settled and regained control before Coombe was replaced by skipper Newbould with 20 minutes remaining and the visitors added to their tally on 75 minutes with a similar effort to the previous strike. Stoke had the last word however, when Hawken was again put through by Duff's sliderule pass and again shot past Griffiths to add an element of deserved credibility to the final score.