Stoke Boss Hughes Hits Out at 'Unnecessary' Deeney Melee After 1-0 Win Over Watford

Mark Hughes wants to see Troy Deeney face retrospective action for the manner in which the Watford captain sparked a melee late on in Stoke's 1-0 victory over the Hornets.

The striker grabbed Potters midfielder Joe Allen by the face as a fracas ensued in the final throes of a testy match in Hertfordshire after Darren Fletcher's goal had handed Stoke all three points.

Speaking to the Stoke Sentinel after the game, Hughes admitted that the scenes were ugly and unncessary and called on the powers that be to look at the incident, despite Deeney being cautioned by referee Michael Oliver.

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He remarked: “I thought that was a bit unfortunate and unnecessary. Clearly, we kicked the ball out because I’m not sure who was down.

“The right thing to do was throw it back to us, but the boy Deeney, captain of the club who should know better, shaped to put it back into our box and that’s why Joe reacted to that decision.

“I’ve seen the pictures of raised hands and thumb nails in faces which is totally unnecessary. Maybe other people will look at that.

“I’m not advocating banning people, but more often than not those situations get re-visited. Maybe let that take its course and see what happens.”

Summer signing Fletcher secured a rare away victory for Stoke with his maiden goal for the club - a 16th-minute side-footed volley from a well worked corner routine.

Asked about the move post-match, Hughes revealed that his players had been hard at work on the training ground with regards to set pieces, before jokingly stating that he would have to show Fletcher how to really volley a football.

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He added: “Believe it or not we do work on set pieces, even though it’s apparently suggested we don’t.

“I watched Fletcher have a couple of attempts and wasn’t sure he was going to do it, but thankfully we said ok to have a go with the first one.

“He has got the ball on target and it goes in or gets a little nick. Delighted for him on the goal, but his general performance was also fantastic.

“He didn’t volley it like I used to,” Hughes added with a smile. “I will have to show how to do it!”