Stoke City clinched third place in the Barclays Asia Trophy by defeating a resilient Singapore Select XI 2-0 at the Singapore National Stadium on Saturday evening.
Midfielder Steve Sidwell opened the scoring for Stoke in the seventh minute before forward Marko Arnautovic grabbed the second in the 73rd minute.
A sedate start broke into life when Sidwell breached the Singapore defence from a corner. The delivery from Marco van Ginkel on the right was headed onward by veteran striker Peter Crouch, dangling in the area for the midfielder to come up with a left-footed finish.
Barring the blemish, the Singapore side more than held their own in the initial stages against a gritty and tough Premier League side who finished ninth last season.
The home side defended with composure with Baihakki Khaizan and goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud coming up with creditable performances.
However, they came second best by a fair margin in possession. The main threat they posed was down the left with Sirnina Camara's loping runs posing a few problems for Stoke.
The cutting edge came from Mark Hughes' side. In the 18th minute, Peter Odemwingie dribbled his way down the right to the edge of the box but send his shot wide.
Twelve minutes later, Marko Arnautovic had the ball in the net but was well offside.
Crouch was a constant menace and two minutes later a free kick found him unerringly but he headed over from a difficult angle and distance.
The home side came to life in the last 10 minutes of the half. In the 35th minute, a Safuwan Baharudin orchestrated a pacy counter attack and found Shahdan Sulaiman, who carried through brilliantly but faltered in trying to find Nicolas Velez on the right.
Eight minutes later, yet another pacy counter attack took the Potters by surprise. Safuwan and Camara were involved in build up and Amri brilliantly held the ball up with some deft footwork and passed to Nazrul Nazari who hit the side-netting.
With one minute remaining, Amri tested Shay Given to his right from the edge of the area but narrowly went wide.
The Singapore side started the second period from where they had left off. In the 50th minute, Argentinian forward Velez was put through but Given showed anticipation to come out and narrow the angle.
Three minutes later, Stoke had a wonderful opportunity to double their advantage. Sidwell put through Mame Biram Diouf. But Singapore goalkeeper Izwan stood tall to come up with a superb one-on-one save to further enhance his growing reputation after keeping Japan goalless in June's World Cup qualifier in Saitama.
After a protracted period of midfield scuffles, Stoke broke out in the 74th minute in a move which culminated in Arnautovic striking home to the far corner off his right foot from the edge of the box.
A minute later, Stoke had a chance to make it three but Odemwingie's firm shot was saved by Izwan who stuck a foot out to thwart the Nigerian striker.
Two minutes later, Izwan saved again off Odemwingie but this time a regulation effort.
The goalkeeper got a resounding reception when he was taken off by coach V. Sundramoorthy in the 82nd minute after having put in a second successive noteworthy shift against Premier League opposition.
Stoke will begin their 2015-2016 campaign at home to Liverpool on Aug. 8.