Hughes thrilled with Bojan return

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes expects Bojan to continue getting better after the attacker’s return from injury on Tuesday.

The Spaniard made his first appearance since January as the Premier League side struggled past Luton Town 8-7 on penalties after their League Cup second-round clash finished locked at 1-1.

Bojan played 87 minutes before coming off at Kenilworth Road as he made his return from a knee injury.

Hughes was excited by what the 24-year-old produced and believes the former Barcelona attacker can only improve.

“He played a decent amount of time tonight and he is only going to get better,” he told the club’s website.

“We saw a lot of his quality, he started to tire toward the end but that was probably expected.

“He was always looking to go forward and find those key passes, so we were pleased with him and he will come on a bundle after that.”

Jonathan Walters had opened the scoring for Stoke in the 67th minute, but the visitors conceded a stoppage-time equaliser as Cameron McGeehan levelled.

Hughes said his team had unnecessarily put themselves in a tough spot.

“We made it more difficult than it needed to be in fairness,” he said.

“We had the vast majority of the play and got our noses in front and should have seen the game out quite comfortably.

“We switched off and allowed them one chance at the end of the game and they took it.

“Credit to them they took it it right to the very end and they deserved to take it to extra time.

“We needed to create more tonight. We had plenty of play and plenty of time the ball but didn’t really create a great deal.

“Credit to the guys though, they stood up and they were all great penalties. They were all confidently taken and we were delighted with that.

“The order of the day was to progress to the next round and that’s what we have done.”