Stoke City capitalised on 10-man Burnley’s torrid defensive display to end their pre-season campaign with a well-deserved victory ahead of the 2025-26 Championship season.
The Potters took the lead on 12 minutes when Burnley goalkeeper Max Weiss mistimed his clearance after Aaron Cresswell curled a threatening corner into the penalty area.
Weiss, acting as a replacement for James Trafford - who returned to Manchester City on Tuesday - missed the ball and, as a result, it fell to Wilmot whose conversion was as easy as it was merited.
The goal came moments after Weiss clumsily kicked the ball out of play when under minimal pressure and would have certainly rang alarm bells for Scott Parker.
And to make matters worse for the visitors, former Potters midfielder Josh Laurent was sent off with under half-an-hour to play when he slid into Bae Junho from behind before being jeered off by the home fans.
Story of the Match
The irony of this weak, fruitless showing from Burnley will have made people wonder how they managed to concede only 16 goals last season when they were promoted back to the Premier League for the first time since 2023.
Even more so due to the fact that their defence has supposedly been bolstered by Kyle Walker who is, although aged, still capable of playing at the highest level. On the other hand, the departures of CJ Egan-Riley and, most importantly, Trafford, show that Parker still has plenty of holes to fill – which were exposed by a Stoke side who looked to have a stride in their step throughout at the bet365 stadium.
There came a point as the clock leaked into the 10th minute where Burnley’s goalkeeper, Weiss, set out to play a simple, 11-yard pass to Quilindschy Hartman before the ball ran out of play in a moment which summarised the Clarets’ start to this game.
Quite what went through the mind of Weiss from that point is unknown, but a storm of doubt cast over him just three minutes later when another error led to an utterly avoidable opener.
In the end, the final touch came from Wilmot but a lapse in structure and concentration meant it was a matter of first come, first serve for the Potters. A corner delivered by Cresswell — who had another bright cameo for his new side — was pinned into the centre of the penalty area.
And when a loose ball was sprung back into the air, Weiss, trying to punch clear, missed it completely as it trickled off Junho and into the path of Wilmot, whose stabbed effort rolled into the empty, bottom-left corner to give Robins’ side the lead.
It was, by all accounts, a merited goal given how sharp the Potters appeared and tensions started to rise due to a growing frustration on Burnley’s part. But they had no one to blame other than themselves.
Just after the half-hour, Hannibal Mejbri and Ben Pearson, already on a yellow card, tussled over a challenge which injected even more conflict into an already-combatted contest as either team added numbers to the scuffle.
Then came the telling moment 29 minutes from the end of regulation when, as Junho received the ball from Cresswell deep into Stoke’s half, the South Korean was hacked down from behind by Laurent, who saw a red card seconds later.
In a very entertaining affair, there were minimal chances for both sides but Stoke will be the happier of the two having won comfortably here and ending their pre-season campaign unbeaten against two of their latest Premier League opponents.
The hosts’ most dangerous chance came when Million Manhoef cut inside just moments before Wilmot’s opener; the Netherlands international cut inside after receiving the ball from Junior Tchamadeu and dispatching what could have been an opener had it not deflected out for a corner.
And Jaidon Anthony was responsible for Burnley’s best chance on 51 minutes when he tried to guide Marcus Edwards’ cross into Viktor Johansson’s net, but he found no fortune.