Speaking following the match Allardyce said, “I think there is no doubt about it and we won’t pull the wool over anybody’s eyes - certainly in the first half we were second best.”
“There were reasons for that and they were one, we didn’t adjust to the conditions which were windy, blustery and a bobbly pitch. Two, we tried to get our passing game going but Stoke weren’t letting us and three, in the end, we didn’t adapt to the way the game needed to be played.
“In the end, it was all about changing the system and the way we played and getting the subs on. Losing Winston Reid to a thigh injury we couldn’t help, but the other two subs were tactical and they helped us to change the shape of the team, get Stewart in the hole and get two up top.
“Once we did that, we finally came up with the sort of quality we have seen many, many times this year with the crossing leading to two goals. The first from Stewart led to a terrific header from Enner Valencia and the second saw Enner repay the compliment by beating the full-back on the left-hand side, pull it back and Downing used his beautiful right foot to put it in the back of the net.
“We didn’t miss Diafra Sakho because we scored two goals. We haven’t played as well as we’d have liked, but when you come back from 2-0 down away from home and get a point at a place like Stoke, we never let our heads go down and our quality got us back in the game.”