Stoke 1 Hull City 0: Bruce rues Elmohamady mistake

Odemwingie struck in the 62nd minute, firing in from the edge of the box after collecting the ball from a stray Ahmed Elmohamady pass to register his fourth goal in three games, and fifth since joining the Potters from Cardiff in January.

The hosts had earlier been indebted to their goalkeeper Asmir Begovic when he kept out a David Meyler shot that had taken a wicked deflection, and in the first half Hull defender Liam Rosenior failed to make the most of a good chance.

Overall, though, Stoke were good value for a Barclays Premier League win that takes them to 40 points for the campaign with six more games to go.

Hull, meanwhile, are 14th on 33 points, seven points above the relegation zone.

Odemwingie collected the ball in the build-up to his goal from a misplaced cross-field pass by Hull midfielder Ahmed Elmohamady.

And Tigers boss Steve Bruce said: “The one thing you can’t eradicate is mistakes and unfortunately Elmo has made a horrible one today which he regrets and has cost us the game.

“That is a couple now - an own-goal in midweek (in the 2-1 loss at West Ham) and one today.

“We have prided ourselves on being difficult to play against and beat - that has got us into the situation we are in at the moment.

“But unfortunately, if you make mistakes at this level... sometimes you get away with it in the Championship, where we were last year, but today with Odemwingie - he still has a bit to do and it is a great finish, but we have gifted them something, when they never looked like breaking us down and we arguably had the best chances in the game.”