Proud Tony Pulis sees Potters make history

The Potters, who went into the third-round second leg with a 1-0 lead from last week's first leg at the Britannia Stadium, put in a controlled display over 90 minutes, with Pulis' players seemingly untroubled by the vociferous home supporters at Stadion Poljud.

And the performance was capped in stoppage time as Hajduk defender Ljubo Milicevic put Dean Whitehead's cross into his own net under pressure from Ryan Shotton to make it 1-0 on the night and seal a 2-0 win on aggregate.

Stoke are now a two-legged tie away from the group stages proper, with their name going into the hat for today's draw for the qualifying play-off stage.

This is the first time the club have played in major European competition for 37 years and is also the first time they have emerged from a continental tie triumphant - the latest in a string of landmark achievements for the Potters under the guidance of Pulis.

"We were quietly confident," Pulis said. "The important thing was to make sure that we came here with the lads full of confidence. We know Hajduk are a very famous club and they have fantastic supporters.

"But we thought that if we played our game then we'd have as good a chance as them of winning the game.

"This is the first time the club has played a European tie and actually qualified or gone through, so it's another new bridge we have crossed."