STOKE HERO LUKE’S JUST LIKE HENRY

SHEFF WED 1 STOKE CITY 1

LUKE CUNDLE conjured up a vital equaliser for Stoke straight out of the Thierry Henry playbook.

Cundle’s cracker came out of the blue and from a tight angle, in the replica style of the French maestro.

And radio pundit Glenn Whelan, who played for both Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke, had no hesitation in comparing his shot to Henry.

Cundle was delighted to have helped the Potters’ battle against the drop with his first strike for the club and with being compared to the Arsenal great.

He said: “That’s quite a compliment. I suppose it was one of his type of finishes. It was a big goal to score too, right in front of our fans who travelled in their thousands.

“I was going to play it to a team-mate, but then the far corner of the goal opened up, and so I put it in.”

Cundle’s goal rubbed out a superb half-volley opener from Liam Palmer, but Stoke boss Steven Schumacher has no illusions. He said: “This relegation battle looks like going to the last day, but we can’t think about that.

“We have to look to our next home match, against my old club Plymouth.”

Cundle’s leveller (above) was a real blow to Owls manager Danny Rohl, who has been at Hillsborough for six months and has given his side a chance of survival.

He said: “We have done so much, but we have to get over the line. We have not done enough to get out of the bottom three, but now we go for the nine points remaining.

“This draw is hard to take. We dominated and should have been two ahead in the first 10 minutes.

“We are only one point behind the others, but we have to lift the players for the match at Blackburn next Sunday lunchtime.

“I’m not sure 50 points will be enough to stay up this season. But in playing next Sunday, all the other teams will have played and we will know their results and what we must aim at.”