Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder was pleased with his side's performance but disappointed with the result in the 1-1 draw against Stoke.
An 87th-minute free-kick from Joe Allen levelled for the visitors after Leon Clarke had broken the deadlock for the Blades.
Wilder said: "We've been outstanding. We've taken on a side full of international players, Premier League players, big fees, big wages and we've totally dominated that game.
"The way we've played, we've totally dominated it.
"Peter Crouch has done what an experienced man from the Premier League does, he's done it to better teams than us with the free-kick. There's a touch, minimum contact and he's gone down.
"We've not lined our wall up as well as we should have done, so we're disappointed with their goal.
"We're playing well and if we play as well as we did tonight we'll be okay and we'll reach our first target of 50 points and stay in the division.
"That's probably the most powerful club we'll play this year...and we're going toe-to-toe with them."
Stoke manager Gary Rowett said: "At 70 minutes, if you'd seen a manager throw himself off a gantry, you'd have seen that would probably be me.
"I think we started a little bit too tentatively and while Sheffield didn't create too many clear-cut chances, they put us under pressure.
"They put balls into the box, they made a nuisance of themselves in that sense because they overload wide areas with their unique playing style.
"We were a little bit too passive first half. We went a goal behind and it was a poor goal to concede. Three of their players follow the ball in, one of ours follows and they end up with a tap-in from the free-kick.
"We actually responded really well, like we have done this season so many times. We responded with an urgency that perhaps we lacked early on in the game."
