Saturday 27 August 2016 20:20, UK
A frustrated Mark Hughes called for greater consistency from referees after watching his Stoke side lose 1-0 to Everton thanks to what he deemed a “very harsh” penalty.
The Toffees were awarded a penalty by Michael Oliver when Phil Bardsley accidently clipped Ashley Williams' heel in the box during an Everton corner.
Shay Given did brilliantly to tip Leighton Baines' resulting penalty onto the post but the ball rebounded off the back of his head into the net and Hughes was left to rue Stoke's luck.
When asked what he made of the penalty decision, Hughes said: "Very harsh. Once again I don't know what really what the referee has seen in terms of a clash.
"There is a coming together. Ashley Williams is slightly ahead of Phil and maybe ran across his path. There is a jumble of legs, the Everton player goes down and we get penalised. I think it is very harsh.
"It is a harder penalty to take than the one that was given against us at Man City. Clearly then, there was a little bit of holding but there wasn't on this occasion.
"We feel very hard done by and, lo and behold, they take the penalty, Shay makes a great save, it hits him on the back of the head and goes in so it was a double whammy to be perfectly honest."
It is the second penalty awarded against Stoke in seven days after Ryan Shawcross was penalised for grabbing Nicolas Otamendi at a corner against Manchester City last Saturday and Hughes feels his team are being unfairly treated.
Hughes said: "All we are asking for is consistency. I am sure there will similar incidents this weekend which won't be penalised with penalties.
"At the moment, every time where we have situations that could be deemed to be a penalty they are awarded against us.
"That was something I was worried about once I heard about the purge on grappling or whatever you want to call it.
"I feared that we that we might be damaged in some games because of that - not because we are any worse than anyone else but because that is how it seems to be. It's unfortunate.
"Some of the guys were watching the earlier game and there was similar holding in the box that was not given. That is the lack of consistency we are worried about to be perfectly honest."
When asked if will have to change the way he coaches his defenders, Hughes said: "I think we'll have to. We are seriously going to have to consider zonal marking because at the moment it is too damaging to us."
