Stoke Surrender Late in Kiev

Cameron Jerome’s goal just before the hour mark looked to be enough to earn Stoke City all three points away in Kiev.

But a late strike from Ognjen Vukojevic deep in injury time denied the battling Potters a landmark win.

“We are obviously pig sick that we conceded such a late goal but that doesn't take any of the shine off what is an absolutely fantastic result” said Stoke boss Tony Pulis in his post-match press conference.

“We were playing against one of the top sides in Europe and we were more than a match for them. 

“What makes it particularly satisfying is that there were a number of players out there who were starting a game for the first time this season, because they needed to get a game under their belts.”

One of those players making his first start in a Stoke shirt was striker Cameron Jerome. The former Birmingham City player had given the visitors a lead just after half-time, smashing the ball into the roof of Dynamo’s net after neatly controlling Ryan Shotton’s low cross.

Stoke tried to hold on against a Dynamo Kiev side that had pressed the Potters for most of the game and it was no surprise that the Ukrainian side managed to equalize.

Unfortunately for Pulis’ men the equalizer came 3 minutes into injury time when Vukojevic latched onto Andriy Yarmolenko’s cross to break Stoke hearts.

Pulis however remained confident after the game and only had one minor criticism of his men’s performance on the night.

“If there is one slight criticism of our performance though, it is the fact that we need to be a little better in possession of the ball. We work so hard off the ball but there were times when we could have retained possession better.

“The fans will have seen what a great performance this was in the toughest of circumstances and hopefully they will now really get behind us as they always do, because if we can do well in our home matches then we have got a great chance of going further in the competition.”