Stoke City vs Peterborough United. Sky Bet Championship.
Bet365 StadiumAttendance21,285.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Stoke City and Peterborough at the bet365 Stadium as goals from Mario Vrancic and Tyrese Campbell saw the Potters to victory on Saturday
Saturday 20 November 2021 19:27, UK
Mario Vrancic's early goal and Tyrese Campbell's late strike earned 10-man Stoke a third successive Championship win as they beat struggling Peterborough 2-0.
Former Norwich midfielder Vrancic scored his second of the campaign after three minutes as Michael O'Neill's men won at the bet365 Stadium for the first time since October 1.
Substitute Campbell rounded off victory in the sixth minute of stoppage time with his first goal in nearly a year following a knee injury lay-off.
In a frantic finale, Stoke also finished with 10 men as Campbell's fellow sub Sam Sturridge was sent off for clashing with Josh Knight.
Darren Ferguson's Posh have collected only one point from the last 12 available.
An eighth away defeat in nine dropped them into the bottom three while Stoke moved fourth, nine points off an automatic promotion place.
The international break brought a season-ending cruciate ligament injury for the Potters' star Australian defender Harry Souttar.
So, the almost immediate breakthrough was just the boost for O'Neill's men.
Vrancic had only featured off the bench in the previous wins at Blackpool and Luton but made the most of his restoration to the starting line-up.
The Bosnian's left-foot drive may have been saved by David Cornell but a deflection off defender Frankie Kent saw the ball go away from the 'keeper.
Posh had not won away since a 2-1 success at Hull on October 20 and started like a team suffering a bad case of travel sickness.
Slowly, though, they played their way back into contention and might have levelled before the break.
Jorge Grant whipped a 33rd-minute free-kick over the crossbar and curled another effort from 20 yards onto the roof of the net.
When Joe Ward cut into the penalty area, his right-foot attempt was deflected behind for one of five corners for the visitors against one in reply in the opening period.
Posh also enjoyed the lion's share of possession though Adam Davies, deputising for injured ex-United and England Under-21 goalie Josef Bursik, saw little direct action to concern him.
Stoke wasted an outstanding chance to also strike early in the second half.
This time, Vrancic was the creator though Cornell's ill-advised rush from his line made it easier for Jacob Brown.
Fortunately, for Posh, Brown's side-foot attempt was a weak one and Nathan Thompson easily cleared.
Cornell then redeemed himself with a fine double save, first keeping out James Chester's header and then foiling Steven Fletcher's close-range header.
Posh were always lively on the counter and Jack Taylor rattled Davies' crossbar from 25 yards. Sammie Szmodics headed in the rebound but was offside from the initial shot.
That was as close as they came to sharing the spoils as Stoke celebrated three more points with Campbell's long overdue goal.
Stoke's Michael O'Neill: "It is great for Tyrese. He was cut down last season at a time when he was flying, scoring goals, assisting goals and terrorising defences. He has had to go through the rehabilitation and had to show patience through it all. That goal is massive for him but also for the support he has had. Everyone at the club is delighted for him. It was important to win the game off the international break. We are asking a lot of the players but they are coming to deliver for us.
"I don't think we played particularly well but I thought we looked a bit leggy at times. They played well. They looked like a good team and moved the ball quite well. I felt we should have scored again after half-time which would have made things a little easier for us. When you are down to 10 men you are always vulnerable. So it was great to get the second goal when we did but they made us work very hard."
Peterborough's Darren Ferguson: "We didn't start well but that's how it is at the moment. It [Vrancic's shot] could have gone anywhere but ends up in the net. We responded well and were the dominant team. We had 14 shots but only one on target - that tells its own story. I was pleased with the performance but we needed a bit more quality in the last bit.
"It is not often you lose a game and get a standing ovation from your supporters. The players know that if we can keep that level of performance and improve on that last bit, we will win games. I thought if we got the equaliser we would go on and win it but we didn't do either. This was our best away performance but we lost the game. There is huge disappointment in the dressing room they have lost another away game but I have to look at level of performance."
