Stoke boss Mark Robins urged his team to revel in matching a 79-year club record after coming from behind to beat Portsmouth 2-1.
The Potters won on the road for the fifth match in a row, something they had not managed since 1947, and they have only lost once in the Championship since the start of September.
Victory came thanks to a second-half fightback after falling behind to Tyreece Shade’s lovely curling finish, Jack McGlynn and Ben Wilmot scoring to turn the game around.
“That is the first time we have won five on the bounce away from home since 1947,” said Robins. “That just shows what an achievement it is.
“The players need to take stock of that and be proud of it.
“We can go into the international break satisfied and it gives us a lot to be proud of going forward.
“They were on a really good run of form so it doesn’t help when you don’t start. We weren’t us in the first half and we gave them a lead.
“To come back from that and perform like we did in the second half to get the two goals and win was really pleasing.
“At half time I told us to be more us. Second half we were more us and that is one of the most pleasing things from today.
“The connection with the supporters is good at the moment, but we know our end of the bargain. We have to keep it up and
keep playing.”
The Potters only had one attempt – off target – in the first half as Portsmouth dominated and led after a botched short corner routine ended up with Shade scoring his first goal for the south coast club since arriving from Burton.
But the second half did not go to plan for in-form Pompey, who saw their six-game unbeaten run end.
McGlynn equalised after goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid allowed a cross to squirm under him.
Schmid was also at fault for the second goal as he pushed Jack Galbraith’s powerful effort into the path of centre-back Wilmot, who headed in his third goal of the season.
Portsmouth head coach John Mousinho said: “I’m really disappointed we lost the game. The contrast in the halves was stark.
“We played very well in the first half and deserved the lead, but we didn’t put the game to bed when we could have done.
“The second half was completely different. We started poorly, the details across the team was poor and we got what we deserved.
“We didn’t cope with the Stoke equaliser particularly well.
“All of a sudden, the things we were doing with good quality and good detail in the first half, we didn’t do in the second.
“Across the board we made too many mistakes. Naturally the goalkeeper will be disappointed, but all the boys should look at themselves and see what we can do better to improve.
“If we had been torn apart by a team that has just gone top of the league and there was nothing we could do, then fine. But that wasn’t the case today. Stoke deserved to win in the end, but it was for our undoing.”
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