Hughes: Shawcross deserved the benefit of the doubt

Stoke boss Mark Hughes feels referee Mike Dean lacked common sense when he chose to send off Ryan Shawcross in the defeat at Sunderland.

The Potters were beaten by late goals from Patrick van Aanholt and Duncan Watmore following Shawcross’s red card for his second caution shortly after the break.

Hughes was unhappy with Dean’s decisions to both dismiss Shawcross and award the free-kick from which Van Aanholt opened the scoring.

He said: “I felt the referee should have used common sense, to be perfectly honest. Ryan feels he got a touch on the ball – if that’s the case, then he’s got their first, so the referee should have given him the benefit of the doubt.

“He didn’t, so he’s made the decision with the help of, I think, his assistant on that side of the field, who got involved, so we are down to 10 men.

“Even at that point as the game progressed, I didn’t think Sunderland really created a great deal and didn’t cause us too many problems even with one less man.

“They needed another break – they got it because the referee for the decision for the free-kick totally wrong. The lad Johnson has just dived, basically, just jumped out of a non-tackle, basically.

“Obviously, the strike itself is a great strike – it takes some strike to beat Jack from 30-odd yards, so you give the boy credit for winning the game for Sunderland.”