Stoke City manager Nathan Jones has revealed he substituted Oghenekaro Etebo against Swansea City in Tuesday’s Championship clash to avoid the Nigerian midfielder picking a red card, reports Completesports.com.
The 3-1 defeat at the Liberty Stadium was Stoke City’s first defeat in 10 games.
Etebo provided the assist for Stoke City’s only goal of the game scored by James McLean.
The 23-year-old who was voted man of the match in the Potters’ previous two games against Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn Rovers was replaced by veteran midfielder Charlie Adam deep into stoppage time.
The former Warri Wolves midfielder was booked in the 34th minute of the encounter and Jones was not prepared to see him bag a second booking.
Stoke City finished the game with 9- men following the dismissal of Bruno Martins Indi and Thomas Edwards
“He has to keep his discipline because any mis-timed tackle and we could have had him sent off too,” Jones told Stoke City’s official website.
“That’s why I brought him off late on when I thought the game was done and we couldn’t afford another sending off.
“He’s frustrated because we weren’t playing the way we would like or the way we have been playing lately but we need to be better than that and we will be.
“It’s a difficult one but they were better than us.”
By Adeboye Amosu
