Mark Hughes "delighted" with Stoke City response against Aston Villa

Stoke City boss Mark Hughes has predicted that his team will have a strong end to the season, after they beat Aston Villa 2-1 at Villa Park.

Goals from Scott Sinclair and Mame Biram Diouf made it 1-1 at the break, before Victor Moses scored a last-minute penalty to give his side victory and spoil Tim Sherwood's first Premier League game in charge of Villa.

Hughes told BBC Sport: "Before the game there was a lot of positivity around Villa and rightly so. I think Tim [Sherwood] will be a very good appointment. But today was about what we needed to do as a group and to have a response to the previous weekend at Blackburn (a 4-1 defeat) when we didn't do ourselves justice.

"Not too many people gave us a chance of winning, which we were a bit taken aback by. But we played well. I would have settled for a point, but I think we deserved all three.

"It was a key game for us on a number of levels and I am delighted with what we produced. If we keep on performing like this then I will be very happy at the end of the season."

Stoke sit 10th in the Premier League table.