‘IT’S OUR LAST HOME GAME SO WE’LL GIVE EVERYTHING TO GET THE RIGHT RESULT’
SAME again, or close to it, will be the message from Michael O’neill as his team play their final home game of the season tomorrow against Brentford.
Having looked in dire straits a week ago, four points in the last two games have taken Stoke to the 50 mark, a tally that seemed unlikely when the manager was appointed in November to a club that had just eight from the opening 15 games.
City have shown pretty much play-off form since then, but it was the character of the team that pleased O’neill as they came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw at Bristol City on Wednesday.
They face a daunting task against the form side of the division, but O’neill says they can halt Brentford’s seven-game winning run since lockdown.
Stoke’s performance at Ashton Gate wasn’t perfect, having conceded a poor goal to go behind on the stroke of half-time.
But O’neill was pleased with the way his side dug in to get the point his side certainly deserved.
Danny Batth’s 64th-minute diving header, from James Mcclean’s cross, levelled the scores, but the team’s hard work all round had earned it.
The manager said: “I am pleased to come away and not be beaten but I thought in the first half we were the better team.
“We had a lot of opportunities, a lot of balls in the box.
“To be fair to them (Bristol City), they defended well as well. But we should have made more of that.
“In the second half, we hit the post and hit the bar and had chances again before we scored.
“In the last 10 minutes we were very tired. We’d had a day less than Bristol because we played on Sunday, I think that showed a little bit. They brought a bit of freshness off the bench which helped them. But I thought a point was the least we deserved.”
Tomorrow’s game will be Stoke’s seventh in 22 days. O’neill points out the busy schedule is the same throughout the Championship, but says it still needs to be managed.
He added: “I think it is catching up with everyone. We haven’t been able to change the team that much. If you look at our bench, there are a lot of younger players. That is what we have to work with at this minute in time.
“The injury to Joe Allen has hampered us as well since we came back after lockdown. But the players have given us everything to be fair.
“I thought the back three were tremendous, Sam Clucas was brilliant again, Nick Powell….i couldn’t really fault any of the performances.
“With a little bit more care in the first half we could have gone ahead. That would make it a bit easier. But we showed great character in the second half to make sure we got back into the game and weren’t beaten.”
The result left Stoke in 17th in a congested bottom third of the table.
The manager added: “I said to the boys when we got to 17th, that is the lowest we want to finish. We have to make sure in the final games we try to preserve that position. Brentford are in great form but we have to believe it is a game we can win. It is our last home game of the season so we need to ensure we do everything to try to get the right result.”
Bristol City head coach Dean Holden had no complaints about the draw, saying: “I think it was a fair result on reflection. Both teams created chances, we had a big chance first half one-on-one and scored a great goal.
“Ultimately, I’m disappointed with how we defended for their goal. Mcclean has great quality and we’ve not switched on quick enough on the free-kick. The lads have given it everything, we wanted to keep the winning run going but it wasn’t meant to be.”