BAKER COOKS UP WIN FOR O’NEILL
LEWIS Baker was hailed by his boss as Stoke secured a much-needed victory over Millwall to relieve the pressure on Michael O’Neill.
Without a win in eight league games entering the fixture, the Potters took an early lead through Jacob Brown’s accurate header and doubled their advantage through a George Saville own goal after the hour mark.
January addition Baker was instrumental to the victory, providing assists via a setpiece delivery for both goals, and was singled out for praise by the relieved Potters boss.
He said: “Lewis has been a great signing; we stole him really if I’m honest. He’s delivered and that’s because he feels valued here. We’ve given him a lot of responsibility and the captain’s armband when Joe Allen hasn’t played.
“He’s gone through a difficult period in his career where you’re constantly a loan player and now this is his first permanent club since Chelsea. How he’s approached things is what impressed me and he’s an excellent player.
“When you’re not winning, it’s the worst feeling ever. We’ve had a lot of times this season where we’ve come in and we’ve felt hard done by in games. Some of that has been self-inflicted, but the important thing was that we got a really good, controlled performance today.
“There was really good application from the players, we were really strong out of possession and we played some really good football as well. The performance was really good.”
Millwall, who entered the fixture amid an eight-match unbeaten run, found themselves behind after Brown’s precise header inside 20 minutes.
Brown, whose goal ended Millwall’s eight-hour run without conceding, missed a sequence of opportunities to consolidate the Potters’ control on the tie, hitting a post from pointblank range.
However, his blushes were saved with Saville flicking on a Baker set-piece into his own net to calm the nerves of the home faithful, who had not witnessed a victory in the league since February 8.
The normally reliable Jed Wallace had an opportunity to shorten the arrears from the penalty spot, but Jack Bonham saved well to sum up a disappointing afternoon for Gary Rowett’s play-off hopefuls.
And Rowett expressed his pride despite Millwall slipping to defeat.
The Lions boss said: “I don’t want to take credit away from Stoke today because they played with a desperation to get a result; I thought they worked incredibly hard. They were quicker than we were, but nevertheless we conceded two very poor goals.
“We got a bit of a lifeline at the end and it would have made a nervy stadium with Stoke’s recent run and made it a very interesting end to the game, but I don’t think we deserved to get anything out of it.
“We have to accept that maybe it was just one game too far in this run; I’m proud of the players and I think they’ve been brilliant.”