Stoke boss Mark Hughes: Enthusiastic Wolves deserved to beat us
Stoke City boss Mark Hughes admitted Wolves were the better team after seeing his side dumped out of the FA Cup.
Goals from Helder Costa and Matt Doherty gave Paul Lambert's side a memorable 2-0 win at the bet365 Stadium.
Wolves spurned a number of other chances, while Carl Ikeme made a number of top-drawer saves at the other end.
On the balance of play, though, Wolves were good value for their victory.
And Hughes didn't disagree, saying: ""We didn't deserve to get anything out of the tie to be perfectly honest.
"We started the game incredibly poorly, and despite having plenty of quality in the side we weren't able to approach it in the right way.
"We needed to be more aggressive, we needed to be more on the front foot and when we went behind we weren't really able to shake ourselves out of it.
"Unfortunately as a consequence of that they were able to score a really easy first goal - which was perfect from their point of view.
"We didn't engage them quickly enough, we made it easy for them to keep us out and then they looked to catch us on the break when they could."
Hughes sent on Charlie Adam and Joe Allen at half time and his team were far better after the break, but couldn't find a way past Ikeme.
The Welshman added: "I took two off - I could have taken four or five off.
"To be fair to their 'keeper he made four or five absolutely outstanding saves, so they have rode their luck to a degree.
"But credit to them because they came here, performed well and took the game away from us – I wish them well in the rest of the competition.
"I thought they showed a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm and had a goalkeeper on the day who had an outstanding day in the office."
