Mark Hughes frustrated as Liverpool fight back to beat Stoke
Saturday 8 April 2017 18:43, UK
Mark Hughes could not hide his frustration after Liverpool came from behind to beat his Stoke side 2-1.
Second-half goals from Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino cancelled out Jon Walters' first-half strike, meaning Stoke are now five without a victory.
Stoke had more than held their own for the majority of the match, and had plenty of chances to add to their lead, in both halves, leaving Hughes regretful after the game.
Asked if he was frustrated, Hughes told Sky Sports: "To say the least yes. We played well first half, had some good opportunities. But we had to take them, and in fairness Liverpool did do that.
"There was a period in the second half, about 10 to 15 minutes, where they were the dominant team, in comparison to us, who had the rest of the game.
"We made a slight mistake with the clearance, it fell straight to them, and that's the bit of fortune you need.
"I thought the performance was OK up to then, but it's the small details against the big teams and you can't give them any opportunities.
"There's only a certain amount of luck on a football pitch, and you have to say when the balls dropped in the box it wasn't quite for us."
Hughes added that the luck did fall Liverpool's way at times during the game, particularly with Coutinho's equalising goal, which came from a poor Glenn Whelan headed clearance.
"The equalising goal was a clearance we should have done better with, and it drops to the one man you don't want in that situation, Coutinho, who doesn't think twice and sticks it into the back of the net.
"We had about three for us and nobody took the opportunity, so we're a little bit frustrated I have to say, I think they've maybe had three shots in the whole game and scored two goals, and that's a little bit of the story of our week really."
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