Late choker for Potters
MICHAEL O’NEILL refused to slam his Stoke players after they squandered the chance to put the boot into one of their relegation rivals.
The Potters had looked like they were strolling to victory as soon as Sam Vokes nudged them in front on nine minutes.
Yet O’neill’s luckless troops somehow managed to concede a mad lastminute penalty, that was coolly converted by Luton skipper James Collins.
Defeat for basement boys Luton would have put the kibosh on their recent mini-revival.
But it will be Stoke who are staring down the barrel again if Middlesbrough beat Nottingham Forest on Monday night.
Fourth-bottom Stoke clawed their way out of the drop zone for the first time on Boxing Day, but look vulnerable again.
Although the formernorthern Ireland manager CHO, who replaced Nathan Jones at the Britannia Stadium last November, insisted: “It’s a bit harsh on the lads to say we threw it away. It was a very soft
LUTON penalty, if it’s a penalty at all.
“For the third game in a week, with two back-toback away games, we played really well.
“So to lose the two points as we did was disappointing.
“I know we are in a precarious position but the reality is we had eight points when I arrived so we weren’t going to get out of this in three months.
“We have to continue to believe, and we will get out of this.
“There are seven or eight teams in it and we’re on an extremely good run.”
Vokes pounced from 10 yards when he diverted Tommy Smith’s low drive past Hatters keeper Simon Sluga.
Tom Ince then wasted two good chances to put the game to bed as the hosts toiled against Stoke’s classy midfield, marshalled brilliantly by Joe Allen.
Yet visiting keeper Jack Butland looked jittery every time the ball came near him, needlessly unsettling his defenders, and James Chester’s late lunge of Luton sub Callum Mcmanaman proved costly.
Luton boss Graeme Jones admitted: “We were treading in quicksand for long parts of the game, it looked like it was going to be one of those days.
“But I never give up – not with these lads.
“A point keeps our momentum going and that’s what it’s all about.”
STOKE