Chris Hughton believes a few slices of luck will help his Nottingham Forest side turn draws into wins as they look to climb the Championship table.
Stoke captain James Chester’s second-half own goal cancelled out City’s opener, scored directly from a corner by Jordan Thompson, as the points were shared in a 1-1 draw on Tuesday night.
Forest looked the more likely to go on and win the game late on, with Cafu denied by a superb save from Stoke goalkeeper Joe Bursik.
Hughton praised his side for clawing their way back into the game against tough opposition, but he was disappointed his side could not nick a winner.
He said: “Again, we should have won the game really after conceding such a poor goal in the first half.
“I think we got a really good reaction from the side.
“It look a little while but it opened up to suit us as such and once it did, we got going and only one team looked like going on to win against a really good side.
“I must admit they were a threat, they had chances as well.
“Cafu had the best chance of the game and we had players who got into really good areas such as Anthony Knockaert and Joe Lolley.
“When you come here and go 1-0 down so early you need a reaction and we got that and we were going on to get the win.
“We deserved three points and to turn draws into wins, we need that little bit of luck to fall for us.”
It was Forest’s third draw in a row, with Stoke now unbeaten in their last five – in the league – with four of those resulting in a draw.
Stoke boss Michael O’Neill admitted that the foggy conditions late in the second half turned the game into a lottery for both sides.
He said: “I thought we were very good in the first half and had control of the game.
“In the second half it descended into a bit of a lottery really with the conditions, but it was no doubt Forest had the best of the second half.
“They were handed opportunities from our poor decisions but, in defence of the players, the conditions were very, very difficult and on the face of it a draw was a fair result.
“Late on the keeper made a great save as Jon (Obi Mikel) played a blind pass and he couldn’t see the lad. The colour of their shirts and the conditions made it difficult.
“We took a deserved but fortunate lead and I thought we played well.
“I thought their substitutions maybe upset our rhythm a bit. In an ideal scenario I wouldn’t have taken off Joe Allen but it was unrealistic to expect him to play 90 minutes.”
