Championship newcomer Vitor Matos knew he would be in for a rough ride at Stoke City
Swansea City manager Vitor Matos on the sidelines at Stoke.(Image: Barrington Coombs/PA)
Vitor Matos knew how important a game it was for Stoke City as he turned up with Swansea at the bet365 Stadium – and rates Stoke as one of the best teams in the Championship so far this season.
Matos had won his previous two on the bounce before arriving in the Potteries but he was wary of a Stoke side that had slipped to eighth in the table on the back of three straight losses.
Goals from Ben Pearson and Sorba Thomas set up a 2-1 home win but Matos could take positives from what he saw from the visitors, who now turn their focus to a match against Wrexham in South Wales on Friday.
Matos said: “I think there is a lot we can take from the game, we grew into the game and that was a target for us. We know Stoke has been one of the best teams in the division this year and they would be looking to react (after a difficult run).
“We wanted to try and grab the game for us in terms of dominance and I think that is the next step we need to have. We need to be able to do that against any team. We suffered, but we also created chances at 0-0 and 1-0. In the second half we made changes and they scored almost immediately when we did that.
“From there we grew into the game again and we felt we could get the two goals. We scored the one and we had this feeling we could get something. The character to show we were willing to keep going was important.
“I have said from the beginning it will be a process, it will take time, and with this comes ups and downs. We are seeing the dominance and the aggression, now we need to grow that more consistently and understand that when we come to these places we need to grab the game from the beginning and not wait for the game to come to us.”
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