Gary’s Owl of anguish
GARY ROWETT says Stoke City have only themselves to blame for not registering their first away league win of the season.
The Potters were 2-0 up after just 22 minutes and missed a host of chances to put the game to bed before a moment of class from Barry Bannan rescued a point for the hosts.
Rowett’s promotion favourites are still winless on the road, but the boss says the performance was proof his side are getting their act together.
Rowett (above) said: “It’s two points dropped. For 30 minutes we were in full control of that game and when you are so dominant the one thing you cannot do is give them an easy way back into it, like we did for their first goal.
“We created even more chances in the second half and should have gone on and won comfortably.
“But if we play like that we are going to win a lot of games this season. The start to the season has been disappointing, but this was more like what we are capable of.” The visitors got off to the perfect start when they were ahead after just 80 seconds. Peter Etebo broke from midfield and found Mame Diouf on the edge of the box. His lay-off was perfect for £12million man Benik Afobe to sidefoot into the roof of the net from six yards. Afobe continued to pay off a huge slice of his hefty transfer fee when he doubled his side’s lead on 22 minutes, poking the ball home from close range for his fourth of the season. Stoke were cruising but the home side were handed a lifeline two minutes later when Bannan’s searching pass was chested down by Steven Fletcher and Marco Matias slotted home. Stoke missed a host of chances in the second half to put the result beyond doubt and were punished eight minutes from time when Bannan curled home a 20-yard free-kick in off the post. “For the first 25 minutes, we were not on the field,” said Wednesday manager Jos Luhukay. “They are a fantastic team and play great football, creating plenty of chances but we showed them too much respect. “We must believe that we are a good team and to get a draw shows we have the character to start games believing in ourselves more. “Without Barry Bannan, we would not have got anything from this game.”