Saturday 22 November 2014 20:26, UK
Stoke manager Mark Hughes believes a string of defensive injuries, allied with a number of defensive lapses, cost his side dearly as they slipped to a 2-1 home defeat to Burnley.
Danny Ings’ first-half brace inside 13 minutes stunned the hosts and left them with a mountain to climb.
Jonathan Walters’ response on the half-hour mark failed to stir a comeback from the home side, and with their lead proving to be unsurmountable the Clarets took the points.
Saturday’s defeat saw the Potters drop a place to 10th in the league standings.
And while suggesting that Burnley had been guilty of some time-wasting, Hughes had no doubt that the real key to the match had been the Potters' early errors which he attributed to enforced changes at the back.
"We lost the game because of the first 10 to 15 minutes where we didn't really understand what the opposition were likely to do against us," Hughes said.
"We had a makeshift back four, but even so, we still had enough quality and experience at the back. In that first period we gave them two great opportunities through collective and individual errors, and they took them.
"Leading into this, we were looking to get back-to-back wins, and by the finish Burnley had done what we wanted to. Credit to them - they defended for their lives in the second half."
Asked about time-wasting, Hughes added: "Against Tottenham, after about 20 minutes our goalkeeper Asmir Begovic was booked for allegedly time-wasting.
"The Burnley goalkeeper [Tom Heaton], who was probably doing it more here than Asmir on that occasion, wasn't booked for it until after 60 minutes. But that wasn't the reason we got beat.
"We are a little bit frustrated with everything in the end, but the top and bottom of it is that in the first 10 to 15 minutes, we had given ourselves too much to do."
