Stoke City plane makes emergency landing
Tony Pulis' men in mid-air plane emergency
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Wednesday, 28, Oct 2009 01:32
By Michael Younger.
Stoke City's evening went from bad to worse last night as the plane carrying them back from Portsmouth was forced to make an emergency midnight landing.
Following a disappointing League Cup fourth round exit after a 4-0 defeat away to Premier League strugglers Portsmouth, Stoke's charter flight, which took off from Southampton airport on Tuesday bound for the east Midlands, had to be redirected to Gatwick airport around midnight after players reported a smell of burning in the cabin.
Upon landing at Gatwick, the plane was met on the runway by fire engines as a precautionary measure.
A club statement read: "Although there was no sign of any fire following an inspection by the airport's crew the squad were forced to continue the rest of the journey home by coach at 01:35 GMT this morning."
Goalkeeper Steve Simonsen, who suffered a terrible night on the pitch, told BBC Radio: "It was pretty eventful to say the least.
"About 20 minutes into the journey there was a strange smell coming through the plane.
"There was no smoke or flames, but the pilot followed the emergency procedure and took us to the nearest airport.
"When you're in that sort of situation you just want to get back down on the ground and, thankfully, that's what we did."