Pulis targets Wembley revenge over City

LONDON, Apr 18 (AFP): Stoke manager Tony Pulis has set his sights on a Wembley revenge mission against Manchester City after his side stormed into the FA Cup final with a 5-0 thrashing of Bolton. Pulis suffered one of the worst days of his career against City when he led Gillingham to the League One play-off final at Wembley in 1999. Gillingham were 2-0 ahead with just minutes left but conceded two late goals before eventually losing to Joe Royle's City on penalties. Pulis hadn't been back to Wembley since that heart-breaking day until he took his Stoke team there for Sunday's FA Cup semi- final. This time around he was able to savour the taste of success at the English national stadium as Stoke secured their first ever FA Cup final appearance with a five-star display. Now Pulis has a chance to exact a measure of revenge for that loss to City 12 years ago and he admits it would make winning the cup even sweeter. "I suppose it will mean more," he said. "We didn't deserve to lose that game and I had never been back to Wembley for a game since because of it. "But it made me a much stronger person. You take things out of defeat as well as victory." Stoke have been labelled as long-ball merchants and even a pub team in some quarters but, while their direct tactics can't be ignored, they rose to the occasion at Wembley and scored some spectacular goals.