Mark Robins was full of admiration for Divin Mubama’s performance against Bristol City. The Manchester City loanee produced a dazzling hat-trick in Stoke City’s emphatic 5–1 victory over Bristol.
The young England Under-21 forward, who had only found the net twice all season, delivered a blistering display to claim his first senior treble and fire the Potters into third place in the Sky Bet Championship.
Junior Tchamadeu and Million Manhoef also got on the score sheet in a commanding performance that left Robins delighted.
Speaking about Divin Mubama’s performance against Bristol City, Stoke City boss Robins said: “I’m not surprised. When the chances come along, he’s capable of taking them and he did that today.
“He’s a young player and what happens is you can lose a little bit of confidence which means you might take half a second, which means the ball doesn’t go in the net, you don’t get the shot away.”
Mubama’s confidence visibly grew as the game progressed, his movement and finishing causing endless problems for the visitors. For Robins, it was proof that the teenager is developing into a more instinctive forward.
“When you become confident things become more automatic, and that’s what happened as the game went on and will happen in time,” the Stoke boss continued.
“It’s a fantastic hat-trick. How good he can get is genuinely up to him. He’s a Manchester City player, we’ve been lucky enough to be trusted with him and his development, I think overall it’s a really good place for him to be.”
It was not just Mubama’s individual brilliance that caught the eye but Stoke’s all-round performance. The Potters combined fluency and aggression in attack with a pressing intensity that left Bristol City chasing shadows for much of the afternoon.
“We were really good from start to finish,” Robins said. “I thought the intent, the intensity, the quality, the finishing, the combination play, there was everything on show and we did it at speed.
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“It was really pleasing to see, I thought they were absolutely outstanding and deserved the goals, could have had some more.
“The goal we conceded was really disappointing but again, put that to one side because we’ve just got to look at the effort they put in and the relentless nature of that was really pleasing.”
The win lifted Stoke above their opponents in the table and underlined their growing reputation as one of the Championship’s most entertaining sides.
Divin Mubama’s performance against Bristol City could mark the start of a breakout campaign — and for Robins, a sign that his side are finding their rhythm at the perfect time.
