Rival managers disappointed in pitch after Birmingham and Stoke draw

Posted Tuesday, April 11, 2023 by PA

Birmingham boss John Eustace opposite Stoke number Alex Neil were heavily critical of the quality of the pitch at St Andrew’s after their two sides played out a goalless draw in the Championship.

The Potters certainly dominated the ball during the clash, with Neil’s men recording an impressive 67 per cent share of the possession.

However, despite all of their possession, Stoke were not able to create many chances with John Ruddy only being called into action once when he made an outstanding save to tip Tyreece Campbell’s curling effort around the post.

Aside from that massive save from Ruddy in the 31st minute, his goal was never truly challenged throughout this clash with the vast majority of the Potters’ chances coming from range.

Despite not recording much possession, Blues arguably had the better chances with Derby loanee Krystian Bielik missing an golden chance three minutes from time after Jack Bonham spilled the ball straight into the path of the Poland international who could not convert.

Eustace said: “It obviously wasn’t a spectacle, it wasn’t a great game with the conditions not really helping us on that side of things, but I thought the way we defended was very solid.

“We didn’t play very well today, of course we didn’t, we know that, but the way we stuck in in real difficult moments…

“The conditions didn’t help us, when you look at our front players they’re all ball carriers, the pitch doesn’t help us on that, you know the wind and everything didn’t help our front players it suited their team better for sure.

“I think they had one chance in the first half where John (Ruddy) pulled off a fantastic save. It was a good save but that’s what he’s there for, he’s been outstanding for us all season.

“Apart from that they had some possession which didn’t really hurt us. Their lad has made a fantastic block at the end where we could have nicked the game 1-0.”

Stoke boss Neil was happy enough with a point despite discontent over the surface.

He said: “I thought we played well in spells, our build-up play from our 18 (yard box) to their 18 was really good. I thought in the final third was didn’t really do enough to get the goal.

“I thought the conditions didn’t help, the wind picked up, the rain came on and off a little bit but the pitch was poor, the pitch was really poor.

“I thought the one which summed it up was when Tyreece Campbell went down the left and squared it for Josh Laurent and the ball literally bobbled all the way across the pitch and he just flung his leg at it and didn’t even make any contact.

“They’re a bigger and more physical team than us, but I thought we stood up to that really well. It was always going to be lost a header, lost a flick on or a throw-in or a set play where I thought we were going to concede a goal, but I thought the lads stood up to it great.”