John Stones believes Manchester City showed "great character" during his side's 3-3 draw against Newcastle but rued the team's missed chances.
Pep Guardiola's side had to battle back from going 3-1 down at a raucous St. James' Park as they avoided their first defeat of the season. Stones was part of the defence that conceded the team's first goals of the season as Newcastle's impressive front-line tested the Blues' resolve.
It was a dream start for City after Ilkay Gundogan made it 1-0 after just five minutes - continuing his very impressive goalscoring record. However, things quickly turned as Eddie Howe's side went on to score three goals without reply as Guardiola's team faced their first real test in the new season.
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The Blues rose to the occasion and scored two goals in four minutes thanks to Erling Haaland and Bernardo Silva to bring City level just after the hour mark. It could have been a very different end to the game after Kieran Trippier was shown a straight red card in the 72nd minute for a knee-high challenge on Kevin de Bruyne - however, the decision was then downgraded to a yellow card in what was the night's most controversial talking point.
Despite the disappointment of missing out on a third successive win, Stones believed that the result showed City's resilience and determination when his side found themselves up against it. Speaking to the club's in-house media after the match, the defender praised the response from his teammates after finding themselves 3-1 down.
When asked about the result, Stones said: "Difficult, very difficult. We knew the quality that they had. It was a difficult end to end game.
"I thought we didn't play to our usual standard. Bit frustrated at the end. We showed great character to come back. I think we could have maybe took more of our chances. That was the feeling coming off the pitch at the end, a bit defeated that we've not come away with the three points in the end. We have to give credit to them as well, how they played and how they stopped us playing in certain ways."
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