Stoke City have booked their place in the fifth round of the FA Cup by beating League One side Rochdale 4-1 this evening.
The game was only four minutes old when Bojan Krkic latched on to a headed clearance before firing a volley past Josh Lillis to give Stoke the lead.
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On the half-hour mark the goalscorer appeared to pick up a knee injury and was brought off as a precaution.
Rochdale began to grow into the game and Rhys Bennett scuffed an effort wide, before Jack Butland rushed off his line to block at the feet of Stephen Dawson.
The League One side had another great opportunity to score when Matt Done was played through by Callum Camps, but he could only direct his effort wide of the post.
Stoke made the hosts pay for those missed chances by doubling their lead in the 52nd minute through Stephen Ireland, who slotted Victor Moses's ball across the box into the corner.
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Moses was involved again 10 minutes later, as he tricked his way into the box before curling an effort over Lillis and into the far corner.
Jonathan Walters almost made it four for Stoke when he drilled an effort just wide of the post after Rochdale had failed to clear a long ball.
With 12 minutes left to play the hosts gave themselves a chance of mounting an unlikely comeback when Bennett placed a low effort past Butland after a corner had not been cleared.
However, Stoke took the sting out of the match and a fourth goal from Walters in stoppage time helped to wrap up the win and set up a tie in the next round against Blackburn Rovers.
Alex Meyers
