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Stoke manager Mark Hughes hits back at Hull boss Steve Bruce

Mark Hughes Stoke
Image: Mark Hughes: Bruce 'defending the indefensible'

Stoke manager Mark Hughes has hit back at Steve Bruce after the Hull boss claimed one of his players was lucky to stay on the pitch last week.

Following the 1-0 Stoke victory at the Britannia on Saturday, Hughes claimed post-match that the tackle could have finished Ireland's career, and said Tigers defender Figueroa should have been shown a straight red card. He was also strongly critical of the game's referee Neil Swarbrick and his assistants.

Bruce subsequently hit back on Monday, suggesting that at the point the challenge was made, Ireland should not have been on the pitch as he should have been sent off himself for earlier making "the worst challenge on the pitch" on David Meyler.

The Hull manager also suggested the Figueroa incident had not even warranted a free-kick, adding: "He kicked the ball and followed through and unfortunately has caught his (Ireland's) leg."

Hughes was upset his former Manchester United team-mate Bruce had spoken out in defence of his Honduras full-back and said: "I think Steve's fallen into the trap of trying to defend the indefensible. It's difficult to compare the two in the first instance because I don't think there's any comparison whatsoever.

"Obviously the outcome is there for everyone to see so I don't think Steve did himself too much credit in terms of his observations of the day really."

Figueroa will not be facing any retrospective action from the Football Association over the matter after Swarbrick's match report said he had seen the incident at the time.

And Hughes added: "It is very easy to try to defend your players and most managers do it - I'm probably guilty of it as well sometimes.

"But on this occasion, it wasn't as if the lad was going to be suspended - which is another debate as well - so why didn't Steve just come out and say it was a terrible tackle and that it shouldn't have happened? To try to defend it I think was incorrect.

"I just thought Steve didn't need to do that. He needed to come out and say it like it was."

Hughes admitted he was frustrated at losing Ireland, 28, for the next few games, adding: "As you can imagine, Stephen is unavailable and is likely to be out for two to three weeks.

“Most people have seen the picture of the injury and it won't surprise anybody that he had to have internal stitches as well as external ones.

“It is disappointing because he was doing well for us in Bojan’s absence, and after coming back from injury recently, to have lost him again, is hugely disappointing.”

The Stoke boss must decide whether to hand Charlie Adam his first league start since late October after the Scotland midfielder impressed off the bench replacing Ireland against the Tigers.

Skipper Ryan Shawcross remains sidelined however as he continues to overcome a troublesome back problem, although Hughes is hopeful of having him back and available sooner rather than later.

“Ryan is back in the building and that is a positive for us. He has come back in a better frame of mind and we are delighted,” Hughes said.

“He will get back out there training again next week all being well and then it will hopefully be a couple of weeks until he is available for selection again.”

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