Stoke City vs Coventry City. Sky Bet Championship.
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Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Stoke City and Coventry City at the bet365 Stadium as Jamie Allen and Gustavo Hamer sealed victory for the Sky Blues on Saturday.
Saturday 22 October 2022 19:33, UK
Coventry City's revival continued as they secured a third successive victory with a 2-0 win at Stoke.
The Potters, who slump to a second home defeat in the space of five days, dominated but to no avail.
Gustavo Hamer created the opener for Jamie Allen in the second half and added a second as the visitors closed the gap to safety to just one point.
Victory ensures the Sky Blues extend their unbeaten away record to five matches and four consecutive clean sheets on their travels.
The hosts, who also suffered a 1-0 home defeat against Rotherham in midweek, looked to provide a positive response and started brightly.
Veteran defender Phil Jagielka came close to opening the scoring after 17 minutes, but his innovative flick-on from a Lewis Baker corner struck the crossbar.
Stoke top-scorer Baker then tried his own luck from range with his arching effort curling narrowly wide of the far post.
An influential Baker was involved again when his pinpoint delivery was met by an offside Will Smallbone, who thwarted his poised team-mate Tariqe Fosu.
The early Potters pressure continued through to the half-hour mark with Fosu close from range on two occasions in quick succession.
But despite their dominance, the home side had to wait until the 48th minute until registering their first shot on target.
Dwight Gayle, who turned 33 in midweek, saw his drilled volley saved comfortably by Ben Wilson.
Six minutes after the restart, the Sky Blues opened the scoring in somewhat fortuitous circumstances.
A Hamer through ball was latched onto by Allen and a last-ditch challenge from Harry Clarke helped to scoop the effort beyond Joe Bursik.
Despite Alex Neil ringing the changes, the Potters fell further behind a few minutes after the hour mark.
Hamer added a goal to his earlier assist in scintillating fashion, skipping beyond two defenders before finishing.
Coventry then had a dream afternoon capped in the 75th minute.
Key man Callum O'Hare handed a major boost to boss Mark Robins as he made his return from injury with a first appearance of the season off the bench.
Despite the hosts' best efforts, Coventry remained resolute to preserve a sixth clean sheet in their last seven games.
Stoke's Alex Neil: "Goals change games. I thought until the first goal went in, we were by far the best team. It was as dominant as we've been. Against a good Coventry team, I thought we were excellent, we were dominant, and they couldn't get out of their half in the first half. But the difficulty you've got is that nobody really cares about that; what they care about is winning games and scoring goals. We didn't carry enough of a threat, we weren't clinical enough and we made two really poor errors defensively.
"We should have done better in both aspects and the game gets taken away from us in two moments. Beyond that, I didn't think Coventry had anything in the game, but nobody cares, we lost the game. To play well, there needs to be an end product and an output in the shape of points on the board. Until the first goal, you can see the type of team that we could be, but towards the end you can see why we are where we are. We cannot be that polarised in one game, because we've got far too much here to accept that being where we land, which for me is extremely frustrating."
Coventry's Mark Robins: "It's a brilliant away win. I'm delighted because they were better than us in the first part of the game. But we stayed in the game when we weren't at our best. For all their possession, they've only really had (Phil) Jagielka's chance, and we've defended really well.
"We scored two absolutely unbelievable goals; they probably didn't belong in this game because I thought it was a bit scrappy. Due to the way we stuck at it, the way we grew into it and the way we took the goals, I thought we deserved to win it. Ultimately, we've got to try and improve what we do in possession, but you can forgive them because of the way they're working and sticking together."
