GERRARD: I NEED MORE FROM GERS
Red card for Potters boss as club that sacked him lands late KO
Adams
GARY ROWETT admitted Stoke were undone by “a sucker punch” after being sent off in the defeat by his former club Birmingham.
Rowett was dismissed by Roger East for his protests when two late penalty claims for handball were turned down, although he denied abusing the referee.
Stoke had more control of the game but City full-back Maxime Colin had already rattled the crossbar before striker Che Adams snatched the points from a low cross on 81 minutes.
Bojan went close for Stoke in the first half, while Peter Crouch’s arrival from the bench caused chaos in the visitors’ defence, one scramble ending with Joe Allen’s 85th-minute effort appearing to hit the hand of Lukas Jutkiewicz.
Rowett said: “We have a very good penalty shout. I’ve seen the first one again and it wasn’t, but the second was blatant handball. I wasn’t sure who it was on the line but he puts two hands out to the side.
“I’m not bemoaning the game. We got done on the sucker punch and you have to give Birmingham credit for that.”
As for his red card, he added: “If I’ve been abusive, sworn at the referee or said something out of order I think I’m honest enough to admit it.
“But I didn’t, I said it’s two penalties.” The Stoke boss was sacked by Blues in 2016 and took plenty of stick from more than 3,200 travelling supporters among a 28,000-strong crowd.
“I’m not bothered about that,” he said. “They don’t know who you are, who the real person is. It’s a bit of pantomime isn’t it. They got one over on us.
“We’ve beat them a couple of times recently and we celebrated goals so it is what it is. I’ve no malice against them.”
Jutkiewicz laid on the goal for strike partner Adams and feels their partnership is blossoming. “We REF: ATT: complement each other well and I’m really pleased for him to get the goal,” he said. “It was a good all-round performance.
“We’ve felt throughout the season we’ve been a good unit and we’ve only lost two games. We’ve drawn perhaps too many but other than that we’ve had a really decent start to the season.” STOKE: BIRMINGHAM: MOTM CHE ADAMS (BIRMINGHAM) STEVEN GERRARD laid into his Rangers side despite a 4-1 win at Hamilton.
The Gers were six minutes away from being held by the Accies until Alex Penny conceded two penalties in three minutes.
And Alfredo Morelos got a late fourth for Rangers to make the scoreline even more flattering.
Boss Gerrard said: “I’m not too pleased with the display. I thought we were average at best. But in terms of the result I’m very pleased. It’s three points and we carry on the momentum from before the international break.”
Ryan Kent gave Rangers the lead with a cool finish just before the break, but Steven Boyd smashed home a superb equaliser 10 minutes before time.
James Tavernier then stepped up to convert both spot-kicks, before Morelos made sure of the points.
Accies chief Martin Canning felt Penny, who used an arm for the first penalty and pushed Morelos for the second, had been unfortunate.
“The hand ball is harsh,” he said. “I don’t think he puts his arm out to stop it in a deliberate movement. The second one’s a pen.”
The win moved Rangers up to fifth above Hibernian, who lost 4-2 at Celtic on Saturday. Odsonne Edouard scored twice for the Hoops, with Tom Rogic and Olivier Ntcham also on the scoresheet. Florian Kamberi and Martin Boyle were the Hibees scorers.
Hearts remain three points clear at the top thanks to a 2-1 win over Aberdeen at Tynecastle.
Arnaud Djoum’s headed opener and a Steven Naismith penalty turned out to be enough, with Gary Mackay-Steven pulling one back from the spot after the break.
Aaron Tshibola’s header earned Kilmarnock a 2-1 win at St Mirren, which moved them up to third.
MATCH STATS