´Yacob made a meal of it´ – Hughes unhappy with Cameron red card

Frustrated Stoke City boss Mark Hughes feels the behaviour of West Brom midfielder Claudio Yacob played a part in Geoff Cameron’s costly red card.

The Premier League match was level with eight minutes to go when the American was sent off for reacting to a Yacob challenge by tossing him to the ground, and the Baggies made the most of their numerical advantage as Jonny Evans struck a stoppage-time goal to seal a 2-1 win.

Hughes did not blame the incident for Stoke’s defeat – which snaps a run of two straight victories – but was disappointed with the decision by referee Lee Mason and will consider an appeal. 

He said to Sky Sports: “When we were behind in the game, there was not a great deal between the two sides – then we get back on level terms and lose Geoff Cameron to what was a really soft penalty from our point of view.

“We were not too enamoured with the lad Yacob – I thought he made a meal of it. We will see about that, but probably appeal it. 

“He is a little bit late on Geoff unfortunately. Geoff got a bad bang in the first half and got caught again in the same area. 

“Geoff has just pushed him with his left arm I think. The lad has gone down clutching the back of his neck. That is two games against West Brom and we have had three players sent off and we were not too happy with the behaviour of one or two of the West Brom players in those circumstances. 

“We are disappointed obviously with certain incidents but that is not really the reason we got beat – we didn’t play like we know we can.”

Hughes felt the match at The Hawthorns was a poor one and acknowledged that Stoke need to improve on the performance they put in.

“The team that made best use of their chances won,” he said. “It was a poor quality game, not a lot of quality play on show from both teams. 

“A the point [of the red card] having not playing particularly well we were taking something out of the game, but we did not really deal with the last corner. We were down one man but we should have dealt with it better and cleared the danger. 

“I think in the end they are fortunate to get the second goal right at the death and we are disappointed because we know we have not hit the levels that we know we are capable of.”