Stoke City boss Mark Robins was delighted with his team’s first-half display but felt quite the opposite regarding their performance in the second as they drew 3-3 at home with the Blues, a controversial 96th-minute penalty having spared his side’s blushes after Town came from 2-0 down at the break to take a 3-2 lead going into injury time.

Robins outlined the positives and negatives from a 15th-placed Potters team which picked up their first point in three games.

“We missed tackles in the second half,” he reflected. “We didn’t get the line high enough, backline too deep. We are playing against the wind.

“First half, we were playing into the wind, second we were with it. They are not kicking it over your head, defend it, go and head it, be prepared to run.

“It was almost like it was easy. First half we won the ball back, the transitions were brilliant, we forced them into mistakes. We picked the ball up and used it pretty well.

“We were playing against a team that’s just come down from the Premier League, they’re third or fourth in this division and they’re fancied by everyone at the start of the season to go straight back up.

“They’ve spent money wisely, they’ve added to that with good players in the team and they’ve got a fully fit squad apart from [Jaden] Philogene.

"We’ve got our circumstances at the moment [12 senior players out injured or suspended], I’m not going to bleat about that because it is what it is. We’ve got good players. In the first half they played really well. They won the ball high up the field and converted two chances.

“The first one was [Milan Smit’s] first goal for us after great work [from Maksym Talovierov] winning the ball and feeding Milly [Million Manhoef]. He goes past [Cedric] Kipre in the box and hits the post.

“It comes out but [Tomas] Rigo is there to try to stab it in and Smudger is there to finish it off. Brilliant. First goal for him and it gets our noses in front.

“We keep doing the same thing and put pressure on and win the ball back high up. [Bae] Junho scores a fantastic second goal, so what’s not to like? A really good first half.

“Second half, we spoke about doing the same things, making sure we win the duels, win the headers, don’t have it so it’s a game of two halves story - and straight away we come out and turn our backs, miss tackles, miss things.

“We’re either ahead of the ball or in the wrong position and don’t recover properly. Pressure isn’t on the ball quite where we needed it to be and sometimes you tire.

“Those are the circumstances we’ve got at the moment. Average age of 23 in the first half, by the way, so it was a young squad - and I’m pleased.”

Robins was disappointed with the role 21-year-old third-choice keeper Tommy Simkin played in some of the Town goals.

“I said to them at full-time that I didn’t know what to say,” Robins continued. “Part of me is really happy with a lot of that apart from three elements, three moments in the game where we’ve missed tackles, turned our back.

“A long throw-in, got first contact but not quick enough first contact and then didn’t get out to the ball quickly enough. He has a shot and we turn our backs on it too easily. Goalkeeper is nowhere near it.

“Third one is even worse. Backline is not up quickly enough and it means that we’ve got Ash Phillips, who is deeper than Maxi [Talovierov], and you can drive a bus through the gap. [George Hirst] takes a touch and it’s gone through the goalkeeper again. He’s got to learn. He has to learn.

“He’s a young goalkeeper and he’s made some brilliant saves and I keep saying it, but we’re talking about too many mistakes. I expect him to save that.

“So you end up 3-2 down and it’s infuriating because we’ve done so well and put so much effort into it.

“What we didn’t do well enough is the use of the ball wasn’t great until after that moment. We start to use the ball again and get into a good position again and have another chance when we [Phillips] headed it over inexplicably.

“We kept going and then got a penalty and that penalty is our first of the season believe it or not.

“Smudger gets his second goal which I’m delighted with. He showed courage and quality and finished it off so we got a point, which I felt was the least we deserved.”

Quizzed on the contentious nature of the spot-kick, Robins added: “I don't care. I do not care. That’s our first penalty of the season and we have had some bankers not given. So I do not care.”

Photo: TWTD