Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Stoke City: Luke Cundle goal earns Potters late point against Owls
- Published
- comments
Luke Cundle's first goal for Stoke earned the Potters a point at Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday missed the chance to move out of the Championship's relegation zone as Luke Cundle scored a late equaliser for Stoke City at Hillsborough.
The Owls started the better of the two sides, Ike Ugbo forcing a save from Daniel Iversen at point-blank range before Michael Smith hit the crossbar.
Wednesday had the lead their play deserved when Liam Palmer's half-volley flew through a crowd of bodies and found the back of Iversen's net.
But their lead lasted less than 10 minutes as Cundle got on the end of Tyrese Campbell's flick to race clear and earn the Potters a point.
Wednesday remain in the Championship relegation zone and drop to 23rd after Birmingham and Huddersfield both earned points on Saturday, which also increased the pressure on 20th-place Stoke.
Wednesday came flying out of the traps, January signing Ugbo forcing Iversen into a good early save from a few yards out.
Smith crashed an effort off the frame of the goal before the Owls striker headed the ball into the back of the net, only for the goal to be ruled out for a foul in the build-up.
Stoke were better after the break, but found themselves behind when Barry Bannan's deep cross fell to Palmer and the long-standing Owl fired his effort past Iversen.
The lead did not last long, however, as substitute Cundle got in behind the Wednesday defence less than three minutes after coming on and kept his composure to level.
Both teams had chances to win the game late on, Bae Jun-ho almost giving the Potters a first lead of the match only to see his goal-bound effort blocked by team-mate Cundle.
And with seconds remaining Josh Laurent had to clear the ball off his own goal-line after a Wednesday long-throw ricocheted off several bodies and was heading in.
A draw does little to ease either side's relegation fears, Wednesday dropping down to 23rd and Stoke looking over their shoulders just one win above the bottom three.
Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Rohl told BBC Radio Sheffield:
"We feel it, I think everyone does today, we missed so many things, we were the better team and dominated this game.
"We got the lead which was well deserved, they had just two shots on our goal and then they scored, it's hard to take.
"You see the teams around us took results, one thing which is clear is we don't get help from someone else, it's about us.
"Today it feels hard to do that, but it's our job, we will believe until the end and prepare for the next game."
Stoke manager Stephen Schumacher told BBC Radio Stoke:
"Obviously everyone knew the importance of this game and if we were to lose it they would have gone level on points with us and would be building momentum.
"It was dead important that we stood up to their physicality today, we watched them on Tuesday night and we spoke about how they changed their style at half-time and went really direct and the crowd played a huge part.
"We were expecting that and we picked a team to withstand that, in the first half we came under intense pressure but thankfully we stood up to it.
"Daniel made one brilliant save and they hit the bar which we got a bit of luck from and we got in at half-time level which was good.
"We fell behind but once again the team showed brilliant character to come back into it and get something, it was so important."