Joe Royle felt the scoreline was misleading and Town should have had a penalty as Blues suffered a 3-1 defeat at Millwall.
Goals from Barry Hayles and Danny Dichio put the Lions ahead, Shefki Kuqi pulled one back on the hour before Scott Dobie completed the scoring on 79 minutes.
"I can't remember a more one sided first-half and they've scored with their only shot at goal," said Town boss Joe.
"We should have had a penalty when Tommy went down in the box. I'm not blaming the referee, he was outstanding throughout the game but I felt the linesman should have been stronger.
"I always felt we would get back in the game in the second-half but the second goal changed the match. It meant we had to change things around and chase the game.
"That said, we could have been level at 2-2. Shefki missed with a great chance just after he had scored.
"Their third goal came on the break and you are always likely to get caught out when you are throwing players forward."
Joe reported no injuries for the Stoke game and added: "It's a heavy schedule of games and that's why I rested Jim Magilton. Two matches in three days is a big ask and it's important he is fully fit for Tuesday." 
