Hughes disappointed as ´dominant´ Stoke defeated

Mark Hughes acknowledged his frustration after Stoke City were beaten 1-0 by Bournemouth despite what he claimed was a “dominant” second-half performance.

Nathan Ake’s 25th-minute header secured victory for the visiting Cherries, leaving Hughes disappointed as his side failed to break through for an equaliser.

Bojan smashed a penalty against the bar in the second half and the Stoke manager felt the game was lost as Bournemouth became “cynical” in the closing stages.

“We’re disappointed with the result, clearly, but unfortunately [that happens] if you concede the first one,” Hughes told the club’s official channel. “We’ve suffered from that in the past.

“We didn’t start as brightly as we needed to in the first half and it took going behind to get us going.

“From that point onwards, I thought we were decent for about a quarter of an hour and we really asked some questions of them.

“Second half, we completely dominated and had some really good chances. Clearly, the penalty is a setback for us as, if we got back on level terms, I felt there was only ever going to be one team that was going to win it.

“As it was, [Bournemouth] were winning 1-0 and they became a little cynical, in my view, to see the result through.

“We had to deal with that, but we kept going and showed great energy.”

However, Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe felt his side did enough in the first half to earn the three points.

“It was a really tough game,” he told BBC Sport. “Coming here, we knew what a tough assignment it was going to be, but we started the game really well.

“When a penalty wasn’t given and then Josh King had that shot cleared off the line, you just think ‘is it going to follow the pattern of the last two weeks where we’ve dominated games and not won?’.

“Thankfully, we scored at a good time – a really great header from Nathan – and then we showed real resilience in the second half.”