Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has insisted that he is "pleased" with his side's performance against Liverpool this afternoon, despite succumbing to a 5-3 defeat.
Stoke conceded an own goal and made a defensive error to allow Liverpool into a two-goal lead, but they came back at the end of the first half, scoring twice in five minutes to go into the break level.
However, a contentious penalty handed Liverpool the lead back and, despite a late Jonathan Walters goal to make it 4-3, Stoke could not repeat their first-half heroics and fell to a dramatic defeat.
"I thought in terms of the performance I was really pleased but in key moments, and when you need things to go well for you you need to do the correct things at the right time they went against us," PA quotes Hughes as saying.
"We needed to deal with key moments better defensively and we conceded a penalty and an own goal with a shot which was heading for the corner flag.
"It was a difficult day in terms of what went against us but I thought we showed real determination to keep on going because that augurs well for big games coming up."
Hughes also slammed the decision to award Liverpool a penalty, calling the decision "soft" and "easy".
Barney Corkhill
