Hughes fumes at Stoke dismissals after West Brom loss

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes hit out at Michael Oliver’s dismissals of Ibrahim Afellay and Charlie Adam following Saturday’s 1-0 Premier League home defeat to West Brom.

Hughes’ men were reduced to 10 men in the 25th minute at the Britannia Stadium when Afellay was shown a red card for slapping Craig Gardner in a coming together between the two after he had been fouled by the West Brom midfielder.

And, just six minutes later, Adam was also given his marching orders for appearing to stamp on Craig Dawson’s leg.

West Brom capitalised in first-half injury time as Salomon Rondon scored his first Premier League goal with a fine header from a Rickie Lambert cross.

Despite a spirited second-half showing, Stoke could not overcome the odds to claim a share of the spoils, leaving Hughes to fume at Oliver’s decisions.

“I’m delighted with the performance of my team under difficult circumstances,” Hughes said in quotes reported by BBC Sport.

“The first red card, Ibrahim Afellay reacted to being flicked in the face. By the letter of the law, maybe they both should have been sent off.

“With the second one, Charlie Adam ends up standing on the lad’s leg after the other player had followed through on him. I think it was harsh.

“It’s not a stamp, it’s a step. To get anything from the game after that was difficult.

“They [the officials] also played a minute too long in the first half and they scored their goal in that time. I asked about that and he said it was because Jack Butland was wasting time. I don’t agree with that.”