Some clear improvements were made for Stoke as they drew 1-1 against championship rivals Millwall.
Steven Schumacher made two changes to the side on his first Stoke City team sheet as Leris and Vidigal came in for Junho and Thompson.
Schumacher, who was appointed Stoke head coach on Tuesday night faced a big fixture in his first game as Millwall only sit one point below Stoke in the table making the game a six pointer.
Millwall perhaps were the better side in an uneventful opening period as the travelling side had a lot of the ball however, couldn’t produce a cross that was useful leaving Jack Bonham untested. As for Stoke, they started particularly slowly as they were getting to grips with the new boss’ football with their first shot coming on the 20th minute mark as winger Mehdi Leris’ half chance flew over Sarkic’s crossbar.
Stoke, at periods of the first half looked very dangerous going forwards. For example, in the 37th minute as Wouter Burger spins his way into space just past the half way line and slotted in Ryan Mmaee who let a fierce shot rip but his shot went straight into Sarkic’s gloves. Billy Mitchell, the Millwall centre midfielder, should’ve arguably been sent off in the first half as he lunged into a tackle with Ki-Jana Hoever with his studs raised and his boot high causing the Stoke right back to roll around in pain and the home crowd screaming with frustration.
The Potters began the second-half as the more attacking side, but could only muster chances that were simple for Sarkic to gather - the goalkeeper having to slightly stretch to claim Josh Laurent's poke at goal on 57 minutes, however. Stoke, in the second period really came into their own as they completely dominated the possession and created chances for themselves to claim the three points.
The period of play that Stoke mostly dominated attacking wise was when Junior Tchamadeu was introduced to the game as the young right back brought energy and creativity to Stoke’s attack.
Striker Ryan Mmaee had two huge chances to win the game for Stoke as he received the ball within the box however, his shots were desperately blocked by Millwall defenders. Josh Laurent had a similar chance as he found himself in a shooting position in the box as Junior Tchamadeu played a subtle reverse pass to find his captain however, Laurents shot was met by an outstretched Sarkic glove. The home fan’s hearts dropped in the 95th minute as substitute Emakhu was gifted a golden opportunity to snatch the game late on as Luke McNally fumbled the ball into his path however, the young striker was blocked by a heroic Jack Bonham who saved the point for his team.
Schumacher’s first game in charge clearly had improvements from previous games, here’s what the new boss had to say about his side’s performance:
"Definitely and that's all we can ask for. Like I said at the start of the week, it won't be perfect. But there were definitely signs, especially in the second half, when we were really positive and we've got players into the areas that we've spoken about. So that was really good. There are also things I think we can do better and we want a bit more control of the ball and for longer periods and not turn it over too fast. We had even too many turnovers. But that's going to come, the more that we practise it and the better that we get in the training sessions, we'll see that out on the pitch.”
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