KEY DECISIONS DIDN’T GO IN OUR FAVOUR, SAYS O’NEILL

MICHAEL O’neill has highlighted three strong penalty shouts and a red card claim against Alex Scott as Stoke slipped to a frustrating defeat at Bristol City. Stoke hit the woodwork twice and made other good chances but gave away a soft goal from a long throw to Tyreeq Bakinson just before half-time.

There were further chances in the second half but Stoke couldn’t take them - and had captain Joe Allen sent off for two yellow cards stopping counter attacks.

Their cause might have been helped if referee Oliver Langford had given Stoke at least one penalty. O’neill said: “It’s very frustrating. We were the better team, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. “We should have been ahead early in the game, if not one or two.

“Then we lose a goal off a long throw and it gives them something to hold onto. They’ve had a difficult time here at home.

“In the second half the game was disrupted quite a bit, which suited the home side but the referee missed some big incidents in the game to be honest. I thought he had to be stronger and braver than he was tonight.” Langford waved away penalty claims and only booked Scott for a lunge on Mario Vrancic. O’neill said: “I thought the header off the bar is a penalty on Jacob Brown when the ball comes out. It’s a clear penalty on James Chester when Kalas pushes him in the back and doesn’t even try to disguise that. “It’s a penalty on Ostigard when Massengo pulls him to the ground and isn’t even looking at the ball. “Then it’s not a great tackle from the young lad to be honest. He’s off the ground and catches Mario a little bit high. It’s not too high but in this day and age it’s a tackle you can’t make.”

For all that, O’neill admitted that Stoke only have themselves to blame.

He said: “We do. We missed chances. We had a lot of opportunities. We dominated the ball and we come away extremely disappointed. “We played well and we take that. The performance was of a good enough level to take three points but we take nothing and move on to Saturday.”