Alex Neil urges Stoke to be more ruthless after Rotherham draw

Posted Tuesday, December 27, 2022 by PA

Stoke manager Alex Neil is calling on his side to be more ruthless in front of goal after the Potters could only manage a 2-2 draw at Rotherham.

Neil’s side had to rally to get a point after twice going behind against the run of play at the New York Stadium.

Stoke created a host of chances in the first half but Liam Delap was particularly wasteful, missing a hat-trick of opportunities.

Viktor Johansson, Lee Peltier and Richard Wood managed to divert other goalbound efforts away to safety between them.

Neil said: “I thought we deserved to win and we were the better side. They had one shot on goal and scored two goals. We could have been two or three nil up in the first half.

“When they score, it was a killer blow because I don’t think they deserved it. I talked at half-time about their body language. You can’t feel sorry for yourselves. The disappointment is we did not seem to kick on from our goal and nothing changed.

“I thought we had good moments in the game. We will play worse than that and win. At the moment, the difference between us competing at the top and bottom end of the table is being ruthless when you’re playing well.

“We need to be more ruthless and stick the ball in the back of the net. Any neutral watching the game would say Stoke played well in spells and deserved the win.

“We had more than enough chances to win. The next step for us as a team is to get it done. There can be no excuses. We need to find a way and we can’t just play well in spots.”

The Millers took the lead on the stroke of half-time when Wes Harding was slipped in down the right flank and he saw his cross diverted in off Jordan Thompson.

Stoke continued to threaten in the second period and it eventually paid off on 61 minutes when Wood’s mishit pass to Johansson was seized upon by Tyrese Campbell and he slotted in at the second attempt after his initial shot was saved.

The goal stung Rotherham back into action and they regained the lead on 71 minutes with Conor Washington on hand to bundle in at the back post from Chiedozie Ogbene’s cross.

Stoke levelled again with 10 minutes left on the clock. Lewis Baker’s corner looped over Johansson via the head of Peltier.

Johansson then pulled off a vital stop from Jacob Brown’s back-post header to ensure a draw.

Rotherham boss Matt Taylor said: “There was an honesty in that performance and in the goals we conceded today. They were honest mistakes in an honest performance.

“We worked so hard to be ahead twice and we wanted to hold onto those leads for a little bit longer.

“The game was what it was. It was crash, bang, wallop and it was a match-up in terms of formation and it came down to one versus one battles.

“They have got some excellent players for this level but ours will never waver. If we are disappointed to not win the game it’s because we have not held on to our leads.”