Rotherham United vs Stoke City. Sky Bet Championship.
New York StadiumAttendance11,517.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Rotherham and Stoke City at the New York Stadium as a late Lee Peltier own goal earned Alex Neil's Potters a point on Boxing Day.
Monday 26 December 2022 18:03, UK
Stoke came from behind twice to earn a 2-2 draw at Rotherham in the Sky Bet Championship.
The Millers had only won one of their last 10 games and would have leapfrogged Alex Neil's men with victory.
Rotherham led twice against the run of play but a late Lee Peltier own goal ensured a share of the spoils.
It was no less than Stoke deserved as they missed a host of chances to put the game to bed.
Tyrese Campbell forced the game's first save out of Viktor Johansson as he raced onto a ball down the left and hit it first time across the Swede's goal.
Liam Delap was then denied the opener by a last-ditch block from Peltier after he had skipped into the box.
With Stoke well on top, Manchester City loanee Delap had a further two chances fall his way but he glanced a header wide and sliced a right-footed shot straight at Johansson.
Campbell led another attack down the right and was denied by a dive from Johansson. The follow-up fell kindly to Will Smallbone but another heroic block from Richard Wood saved a goal.
Despite all the first-half pressure, it was Rotherham who went in at the break in front with Wes Harding's 45th-minute cross being diverted into his own goal at the near post by Jordan Thompson.
Stoke started where they left off early in the second half and Jacob Brown spurned a big opportunity to level when he lashed a perfect cross from Josh Tymon high and wide.
They eventually got on level terms in the 61st minute when Wood underhit a pass back to Johansson and Campbell, at the second attempt, slotted home.
Rotherham struck back on 71 minutes to regain the lead. It came down the left flank with Chiedozie Ogbene cleverly getting to the byline and crossing for Conor Washington to bundle in at the back post.
Stoke levelled once again in the 80th minute with the ball looping over Johansson off the head of Peltier from Lewis Baker's corner.
The away side were fired up in search of a winner and Johansson came to Rotherham's rescue as he tipped Brown's header over the top from Harry Clarke's cross.
A breathless second half continued right into added on time with Peltier again getting in the way of a threatening Stoke attack.
Rotherham's Matt Taylor: "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."
Stoke's Alex Neil: "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."
