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Mark Robins is keeping the door open to everyone in his Stoke City squad to force their way into his starting XI plans with now just one friendly remaining of pre-season. Stoke have brought in five new faces so far in the summer transfer window and there will be more ins and outs over the next few weeks. They will play their final warm up game on Saturday, against Valencia at home, before a Carabao Cup tie against Oldham a week later. A plan to increase the minutes for players against Everton on Tuesday night was kyboshed by a day-long hold up in Vienna airport on Sunday, meaning the manager changed his whole side at half-time in a 1-0 win. It gave another chance for youngsters or those who might seem on the fringes to catch his eye and he insists performances can help settle his mind as he prepares for the Championship curtain raiser against Swansea on August 15. He said: “I’m going to say we’ll wait and see (if we’ll increase players’ minutes against Valencia) because you’ve got to see how people got through that – but, I tell you what, there have been some really good performances from players who may have thought they were away from the starting line up. There is no one away from the starting line up and anybody can play their way in. I think that, tonight, has been a really good exercise for that.” Gabriel Kelly, aged 19, scored the winner against Everton with a lovely strike from outside the box. There are loan suitors for the Republic of Ireland youth midfielder while there are clubs who are waiting to check Stoke’s stance on winger Favour Fawunmi or Ruben Curley. Maksym Talovierov and Ben Gibson were unflustered at centre-half – where there is a long pecking order – while Sam Gallagher, Lamine Cisse, Milan Smit and Robert Bozenik are trying to work their way to the front of the queue in the forward line. There is plenty of competition in central midfield too. Robins was pleased with the number of chances that Stoke forged, with Tomas Rigo hitting the bar when well placed and Gallagher being foiled in a one-on-one. He said: “It was a fantastic finish from Gabriel Kelly. As soon as he ran on to it I thought it had a right chance and he hit it sweetly. That was good. We also had a chance for Sorba Thomas, we had a chance for Lamine, we had a chance for Robert Bozenik and for Milan… we created chances. “We had a fair few shots, we had a fair few corners – and we had a long throw which was bouncing about and it was pleasing that we managed to keep it alive. We had good outcomes in terms of what we’re looking for: more outcomes and more shots on target. I think we did that. We had some good efforts on goal. The goalkeeper made a couple of really good saves in the first half actually. “They had a lot of possession and a lot of movement, they’re a week behind us in terms of starting and that does make a difference.” Stoke remain active in the transfer window and the market knot will be loosened a little as internationals start to return to Premier League clubs and managers sanction exits and prompt chain reactions. Robins said: “We’re trying to do things. We know we need some more. We just need one or two to give us a bit of a boost.” What do you think? Click HERE to join the debate