Mark Hughes: "I'm pleased as punch"

Stoke City boss Mark Hughes has revealed his delight after the Potters returned to winning ways in the Premier League with a 1-0 success away to Watford on Saturday afternoon.

Darren Fletcher scored the only goal of the match as Stoke bounced back from successive defeats to Manchester City and Bournemouth.

Hughes has admitted that conceding seven at City earlier this month was a difficult result to take, but the 53-year-old was left "pleased as punch" with the victory at Vicarage Road.

"For whatever reason, people talk about pressure; in hindsight the Man City result took a bit longer to get out our system, but we've done that this week and I'm pleased as punch," Hughes told reporters.

"We understood what they would try and do and it was food and drink for our centre halves... overall it's a good performance, we've had a tough set of fixtures. We aren't doing as badly as people make out and we'll be fine."

Stoke currently sit 13th in the Premier League table - three points clear of 18th-placed Everton, who would move out of the bottom three with a win away to Leicester City on Sunday afternoon.