Alex Neil bemoans disappointing Norwich result after Stoke loss
Thursday 14 January 2016 15:32, UK
Alex Neil has bemoaned a disappointing result for his Norwich side as they lost 3-1 at Stoke in the Premier League on Wednesday and saw midfielder Gary O'Neil sent off.
The Canaries played for more than an hour with 10 men, after O'Neil flew in with a dangerous tackle on Ibrahim Afellay and was shown a straight red for his troubles.
All four goals came in the second half, with Jon Walters putting Stoke ahead just three minutes after the restart, but Johnny Howson produced a stunning equaliser to get Norwich back in the game.
But Neil's men couldn't keep their in-form hosts out for long, with Joselu and a Ryan Bennett own goal sealing a disappointing defeat for the Canaries.
"I would say the sending off was the turning point. It's disappointing, especially Gary being an experienced player," the Norwich boss told Sky Sports after the game.
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"It's unlike him. He felt like he could have got the ball and that he hadn't made that bad of a tackle but I think when he looks back at it, he'll realise he's made an error.
"Up until then, I thought we were doing well and had the best chance of the game with Ryan Bennett and Jack Butland making the save.
"We managed to get a great equaliser through Johnny Howson and at that point, things were going well for us, but a shot from distance is always a disappointing way to concede the second goal. From then on, it was always going to be a difficult task and unfortunately Ryan headed one that ended up in the back of the net."
Norwich have stayed in 15th after their defeat at the Britannia - five points ahead of the relegation zone - and face fellow strugglers Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon.
"It's important to win games. It doesn't really matter where we're looking, we just need to get the points. If we keep 11 men on the pitch, we'll have a better chance.
"We'll react on Saturday because the boys worked their socks off tonight. We need to make sure we shut down areas we know are going to be a problem and unfortunately at crucial times tonight, we didn't do that."
