Michael O’Neill bemoans ‘bad draw’ as Stoke suffer play-off setback

Stoke manager Michael O’Neill called his side’s 2-2 result at home to Birmingham a “bad draw” as the Potters lost ground on the play-offs.

Despite an early warning sign after in-form Birmingham striker Lyle Taylor struck the post inside two minutes, the Potters found themselves trailing when 17-year-old Jordan James notched his first senior goal.

The visitors’ lead proved short-lived however with Tyrese Campbell mis-controlling a Taylor Harwood-Bellis long ball and inadvertently wrong-footing Neil Etheridge in the Blues’ net, with the scores level again inside the half-hour mark.

Stoke rose into the ascendancy and, although they nearly took the lead through Josh Tymon’s wonder-strike off the woodwork, their persistence paid off after the interval when Campbell added his second of the afternoon.

The clash took another swing prior to the hour mark with Harwood-Bellis’ miscued clearance falling at the feet of Gary Gardner, who happily obliged to level the scoring.

Stoke boss O’Neill said: “We played against a packed defence and it was hard to break that down. There were a few opportunities where we could have done better.

“At Forest, we talked about two periods in the game where we got disjointed, and we suffered as a result, and today was another example. The game got stretched when we were ahead and we left ourselves vulnerable, which is something we have to get away from.

“We’re doing everything to try and win the game. The crowd was good today and they want to see a team that’s trying to win every game. We are not winning enough but our intentions are certainly there.

“There are good draws and bad draws in this league, today was a bad draw for us. We need to turn games like this into three points. We haven’t made that level of performance into winning games.”

A third draw in four outings marks a setback for Stoke’s play-off ambitions, with a sequence of missed opportunities costing the Potters.

The returning Sam Clucas spurned a glorious chance inside six minutes when he blasted over, while Jacob Brown was thwarted by some heroic defending by Jeremie Bela when he looked destined to score.

For the Blues, meanwhile, a 2,067-strong away end could not inspire a first away victory in the league since October.

Birmingham boss Lee Bowyer paid tribute to his young star James, saying the teenager’s “future is as bright as he wants to be”.

“He’s a 17-year-old kid who’s learning the game. For me, the finish and the area where he’s scored and the composure he has to pass the ball in the corner, these are the things we work on so it’s pleasing for me because he’s listening and he’s improving,” Bowyer said.

“He’s 17-years-old and he’s just scored his first goal away at Stoke in the Championship, it’s some going.

“If he keeps doing what he’s doing and showing the hunger and the desire to improve, then his future is as bright as he wants to be. He’s a tremendous asset, he’s a good player and if he wasn’t, trust me, he wouldn’t be playing. People are going to be looking at him for sure.

“I thought it was a good game. From the start we had seven attack-minded players from the 10 outfield, so I thought it was going to be an open game. It turned out to be that way, but I thought we deserved a point.”