IF tomorrow's Britannia Stadium showdown is important for Burnley, it also represents a final throw of the die for Stoke City.

The Potters have all but thrown away their play-off chances after a disastrous run since the turn of the year.

But mathematically they can still sneak a top-six finish and are clinging to the hope that a win over Burnley combined with defeats for Gillingham at Oldham and Bournemouth at home to Chesterfield will keep the door open.

Stoke have a reasonable record over the last six games, winning two and drawing three.

But before that they lost seven out of nine games. And their home record of six defeats in nine home matches has been the main reason for their spectacular collapse.

Brian Little's men were top of the table when they eased to a 2-0 win at Turf Moor in November. And they were still a top three side at the start of January. But it has all gone wrong since and despite the club reporting a £1.5 million profit for the last year, due largely to the sales of Andrew Griffin to Newcastle and Mike Sheron to Barnsley, manager Brian Little hasn't been able to buy to stop the rot. His pre-deadline signings were free transfers Nicky Mohan and Jason Kavanagh from Wycombe Wanderers, who followed former Burnley loan keeper Gavin Ward, missing tomorrow through injury, from Bolton Wanderers.

Despite their problems, Stoke do possess quality in the shape of midfielder Graham Kavanagh, right-back Chris Short and front men Kyle Lightbourne and Peter Thorne.

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