Jones: We're Not Far From Elusive Away Win

Phil Jones feels only fine margins stand between Manchester United and an elusive third away win of the 2014/15 season.

The New Year's Day trip to Stoke City resulted in a third successive draw on the road for the Reds, who were previously held 1-1 at Aston Villa and 0-0 at Tottenham during the congested Christmas schedule.

United manager Louis van Gaal had pointed out in his pre-match press conference that his team have only beaten Arsenal and Southampton away in the campaign to date. Reflecting on why Stoke's name was not added to that list, Jones told ManUtd.com: "We played well in parts but probably didn't create as many chances as we would have liked. I think the draw's a fair result in the end."

When asked what might be needed to turn potentially costly away draws into valuable victories, Jones suggested: "I think it's maybe just the final pass, the final ball. But we'll evaluate everything we've done at Stoke and we'll try to improve."

The 1-1 draw with Mark Hughes' side represents an improvement on when United last played at the Britannia Stadium, in similar swirling wind and rain, exactly 11 months ago. On that day, 1 February, the Reds also rallied after conceding first but went on to lose 2-1. This time, Falcao's equaliser proved to be the final goal of the game and Jones agrees with the evidence - United are still heading in the right direction at the dawn of 2015.

"I think we've become resilient to play against," he assessed.

"We could have been beaten, although I still think it's two dropped points. Maybe if we'd got all three points at Tottenham, we could have looked upon this as a better result in hindsight.

"As it is we've got another draw but we need to kick on and put in a good performance against Yeovil on Sunday."