Friday 26 December 2014 19:39, UK
Stoke manager Mark Hughes believes his side got their tactics right as they picked up a 1-0 win at Everton.
Bojan slotted home the winner from the penalty spot after the forward was felled by James McCarthy in the box, and the visitors held on to take the win and leapfrog their opponents in the table.
After losing out to Chelsea on Monday night, Hughes felt it was important to follow up their performance by also getting a result to match.
“[It was] an important game for us,” he said. “We had the disappointment against Chelsea on Monday night – I thought we played really well against them – but we just had a little bit of quality up at the top end today.
“It was important we showed the same level of performance as before. We got the game tactically spot on. We knew Everton would want to get the ball down, pass and move, but build-up sometimes allows you to get people behind the ball and we had good threats on the break today.
“That’s what we were trying to do today, and in Bojan we’ve got a bit of quality at the top end ourselves. We got the penalty, but [also] a number of chances on the counter that – if we’re a little bit critical, which we don’t want to be because it’s a huge result for us – we possibly could have picked the right pass and made the most of those occasions.
“In the second half we didn’t allow Everton much opportunity to get back on level terms. Difficult conditions for everybody, to be honest, but in the end we felt we saw the game out quite comfortably.”
The Potters move up to 11th in the Premier League table having picked up their fourth away win in the league this season, while the result consigned Everton to just their third Premier League defeat at Goodison Park this term.
The hosts were unhappy with the awarding of the decisive spot kick, but Hughes believes the referee made the right call.
“I think {Bojan] got ahead of [McCarthy],” he said. “I’ve only looked at it once more but it looks like he catches his back leg.
“You’ve got to be very careful in those circumstances – if you have any contact against an opponent in the box then you’re going to knock them off their stride and they’re going to go over. So a clear penalty from our point of view, and deserved I think.
“We had some good opportunities ourselves on the break – probably could have made more of them – but in the end we’re happy with the result.”
