ALLEN’S LATE DISMISSAL POSES MORE ISSUES FOR BOSS O’NEILL
STOKE City missed the opportunity of closing the gap on the top two at Ashton Gate on Wednesday evening.
A succession of missed opportunities proved the Potters downfall as the home side profited from their only serious opportunity of the match to steal all three points in front of the live television cameras.
MARK MOTHERSHAW dissects the main talking points from a frustrating night in Bristol...
WASTEFUL POTTERS FRUSTRATE AT ASHTON GATE
Stoke could do with finding their shooting boots - and pretty sharpish.
Make no mistake about it, they should have been out of sight long before Tyreeq Bakinson opened the scoring just before half-time. Steven Fletcher would have bet his house on profiting from at least one of the two opportunities he was presented with - both of which rattled the woodwork - while the in-form Jacob Brown surprisingly lost his composure having twice been freed on goal. They weren’t the only two culpable, however, with James Chester, Alfie Doughty and even Tyrese Campbell wasteful during the second period.
Since the calamitous 3-3 draw with Cardiff City earlier in the month, the Potters have notched just three goals in four matches - although thankfully all three of those were enough to seal the spoils in victories over Blackpool, Luton and Peterborough United. But, the side can’t bank on clean sheets to win games at this level, and will likely need to rediscover their goalscoring touch against free-scoring Blackburn Rovers on Saturday if they are to bounce back to winning ways.
CREATIVITY A CRUMB OF COMFORT
For all the side’s misdemeanours in front of goal, in the cold light of day O’neill will take some satisfaction from the fact his side were able to cut the Robins backline open almost at will. On another night, the Northern Irishman would be reflecting back upon a comprehensive away day triumph that had catapulted his side up into third place in the table.
There is real talent within this squad, and at full-tilt, they are capable of competing with the very best of the Championship. We have seen that already.
The three recent victories, prior to the loss at Ashton Gate, were packed with grit and determination, but O’neill, above, wants his side to be more than that - and in fairness, they are more than that.
The way that they dominated Bristol during the first 37 minutes bared the traits of a side who are destined to seriously challenge for a top six berth this season. Fine margins determine games at any level of the game, and sadly on this occasion, some wasteful finishing tarnished what was in truth, a decent away performance.
POTTERS CONTINUE TO BE PLAGUED BY INJURY AND SUSPENSION
If you thought things couldn’t get any worse for the Potters in terms of injuries and suspension, you were wrong!
Joe Allen’s dismissal seven minutes into stoppage time rubbed further salt into the wounds.
The Stoke boss was infuriated enough by his side’s inability to turn opportunities in to goals without having to contend with yet another selection headache for the weekend.
Allen’s dismissal, at the time of writing, means Stoke have only two bona-fide central midfielders available to face Blackburn on Saturday.
The Wales international joins the injured Nick Powell, Jordan Thompson and Sam Clucas on the sidelines, meaning O’neill will have to pray for some muchneeded positive news on the injury front, or shuffle his already patched up squad to an even greater extent.
Add those absences to the likes of Joe Bursik, Harry Souttar, Abdallah Sima and Sam Surridge, and it is easy to see why O’neill will be having sleepless nights.
A SPOT OF BOTHER FOR O’NEILL
You do have to agree with O’neill who questioned what his side have to do to win a penalty. Yes, Stoke’s record is pretty abysmal from the spot, but even so, how Oliver Langford opted not to punish Bristol City’s very ‘hands-on’ backline is baffling. Leo Ostigard was wrestled to the ground on more than one occasion, Danny Batth had his shirt pretty much ripped from his chest, and only Fletcher’s muscle stopped him from being floored by a clumsy Robins defender.
The official may point to the fact he missed the incidents in the melee of a couple of corners, but how did he miss them, would be the question most would respond with?
If he did then where was the linesman, whose job it is to keep a close check on in-box infringements from set-pieces? O’neill had every right to voice his frustrations in his postmatch appraisal, just as he did about Alex Scott’s challenge on Mario Vrancic, which remarkably warranted just a yellow card.
It is the inconsistency that will irk him the most, having seen Sam Surridge handed a three-match ban for a nod to the abdomen of a Peterborough United player at the weekend - one that would have left him with a touch of belly ache at most.