Stoke 1-2 Bristol City: Joe Allen red card costs struggling Potters

Stoke are still searching for their first win of the Championship season following a 2-1 defeat at home to Bristol City.

It had looked like it could finally be Stoke's day after Sam Clucas slotted home from a fourth-minute corner.

But their hopes suffered a major blow when Joe Allen was red-carded for a late lunging tackle on Josh Brownhill after only 12 minutes.

The Potters continued to keep up the pressure and could have doubled their lead but Daniel Bentley did well to keep out James McClean after 21 minutes.

But Stoke, who remain rooted to the foot of table, tired after the restart as Bristol made their man advantage count.

And they completed the comeback win with goals from Famara Diedhiou and Tom Edwards' own goal inside the space of seven minutes.

Clucas got Stoke off to a perfect start when he smashed home following a good lay-off by Bruno Martins Indi.

But the game turned on its head when Allen was sent-off for going in with his studs on Brownhill.

Han-Noah Massengo had to turn the ball over his own crossbar for a 19th minute corner as the Potters continued to dominate.

Bentley spread himself brilliantly two minutes later to keep out a close-range effort from McClean.

Jack Butland saved with his feet to keep out an Andreas Weimann shot after 23 minutes as the game burst to life.

Tommy Rowe was unable to find the target with a header from Brownhill's cross on 30 minutes.

Antoine Semenyo blazed over from a tight angle after 42 minutes, before Clucas failed to keep a long-range effort down on the stroke of half-time.

Tom Ince saw a shot saved by Bentley on 48 minutes after a surging run into the box.

Badou Ndiaye dragged an effort wide from distance minutes later as the home side looked for a decisive second.

But Diedhiou headed home from the goal-line after a brilliant cross by Jack Hunt on 55 minutes to drag Bristol level.

The visitors were ahead seven minutes later when Edwards turned into his own net while under pressure.

But Hunt again deserved all the credit for the goal after he beat his man before delivering another deadly chipped cross to the back post.

Stoke were then unable to create a good chance to level in the closing stages with an off-target volley from Clucas the best they could offer.

The managers

Nathan Jones: "The board sees the work I do every day, they are good football people but I don't know how long they can be patient. I want to change things but nothing is going for us, There are teams with far more points than us, but are playing worse than us. We cant keep saying that because eventually people's patience runs out.

"The fans and the club have been brilliant with the patience they have given me and I have to repay that. We came out of the blocks really well, we wanted to attack, to take the shackles off and play without fear. I'm really proud of the work-rate of the players. If we just defended better, it has cost us, we do not defend well.

"Joe Allen is not a clear-cut red card. It is not an obvious error by the ref, it is 50/50 and we are on the wrong end of those decisions. We have created some clear-cut chances after going down to 10 men. We were on the front foot and could have doubled our lead. The red card made 100 per cent difference in the outcome."

Lee Johnson: "Stoke were excellent today from start to finish, they worked hard and showed a great attitude. We got away with one, this is a tough division and we will take it.

"Our first-half performance didn't warrant a win, the second half performance warranted winning the half, but Stoke didn't deserve to lose."

Soccer Saturday Super 6: £250k jackpot must be won!

FREE TO PLAY: £250,000 is GUARANTEED this weekend, whether you score 30 points or not!