Reaction at the Bet365 Stadium following Stoke City’s 2-0 victory against Middlesbrough
In an important home victory over Middlesbrough, Steven Schumacher has expressed gratitude to the Stoke City supporters for their support and to his players for a show that the fans could not have been happier with.
After a 2-0 victory at the bet365 Stadium, Stoke remains in the Championship relegation zone; however, there are now just six points separating the bottom three from 12th in an extremely tight bottom half.
Eleven games remain, and the first one is a trip to promotion-chasing Leeds on Tuesday.
The victory over Middlesbrough was crucial for confidence and the standings in such a close match, and there was a very upbeat and boisterous atmosphere after Jon Walters.
Schumacher said: “We needed the fans today and we’re going to need the fans again because we’re in a real battle. There are so many teams in a congested bottom half of the division and we need to make this a difficult place to come. Our fans were outstanding right from the very first whistle. That save from Daniel (Iversen) allowed them to stick with us for a lot longer and got us over the line. I really appreciate the support and the players putting in the effort and commitment that they could get behind.”
He added: “It was a massive win. Every game is going to be like that now, any point you get is going to be huge because everyone can see how tight it is. There are six points between ourselves and 12th. Every point is going to be hard-fought and today we did enough to take all three. I’m really pleased for everyone.”
“That’s it,” said Schumacher. “It’ll change loads of times between now and the end of the season so you can’t focus on that. There are 11 games to go, a lot of points to play for, and you just have to try to get as many as you can in your next game. We’re going to one of the toughest places you can go to in this league and we’ll have to make sure we’re at it.”