Schumacher: Character key to three points

Steven Schumacher praised the Potters’ collective character and a moment of world class quality from midfielder Lewis Baker as his side claimed a “massive” three points and extended their unbeaten run to seven Championship matches.

The 39-year-old watched on as City became just the second team to prevent hosts Rotherham United from scoring on their own patch in 15 home matches in 23/24.

The Potters' Head Coach believed the key to victory was the way in which his side stood up to the physical challenge presented by the Millers, something he and his staff had highlighted throughout the week.

“It was a brilliant win, a massive three points for us,” Schumacher said post-match. “I said in the pre-match press that I felt it would be a huge game and if we could get three points it would give everybody another lift and keep building confidence.

“We had to show different sides to our game today and we saw in the first couple of minutes what to expect when the first two throw-ins were launched into our box.

“We stood up to everything Rotherham threw at us and I am really pleased with that.

“We tried to stay as far away from our goal as possible and not sink into the box, which Hughesy [Mark Hughes, Assistant Head Coach] has been working on with the team all week.”

He added: “We then showed character again after we scored right on the stroke of half-time.

“We expected a reaction from Rotherham, which is what we got, and for 15 minutes they put us under real pressure.

“The most pleasing thing was that we didn’t wilt, teams at the bottom end of the division can quite often concede in those moments but we didn’t and that shows the lads have character, stood up to the battle and defended our box really well.”

The game’s decisive moment came in the final minute of first half stoppage time when the Potters’ number eight fired in a wonderful free-kick for his second goal in as many Championship matches.

Schumacher stated Baker’s quality has been evident from his first day at the club and explained that he believes he will continue to improve in the second half of the campaign.

“It was a worldie, such a good goal,” Schumacher said of Baker’s free kick.

“He has lots of ability and can score from outside of the box with both feet.

“He will be so important for the team because, in the system we like to play, you need players in the number eight positions who can score.

“To a man, everyone played really well, and they had to do.”

City’s run of seven league matches unbeaten is their longest streak since April 2019 and, while Schumacher was delighted to continue the run, he set the challenge to the players to maintain momentum next weekend against Birmingham City.

“It is a good achievement because it is not easy to go that many games unbeaten,” he continued.

“Every team you play against is so strong, so we are delighted with that.

“I said to the lads in there that we have had a really good training week and we can see signs that we are getting better and the messages are becoming clearer as we add more detail.

“Next week will be the same, we can’t take our foot off the gas, we are nowhere near the finished article, far from it, we have to get back and work really hard next week to put a gameplan together to beat Birmingham.

“The challenge now is can we go again and make it eight.”