Stoke City 1 Hull City 0: Bruce bemoans Hull’s misfortune on road

Hull manager Steve Bruce – whose side dropped to 14th, seven points clear of the relegation zone – was left lamenting that error, which followed on from Tigers defender James Chester’s own goal in last Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat at West Ham.

Bruce also rued the visitors’ inability to make the most of their chances in an encounter he felt they should not have lost.

Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic did well to keep out Tom Huddlestone’s drive and deflected an effort by David Meyler.

Liam Rosenior headed over between those attempts when it seemed he really should have done better.

Bruce said: “Begovic has proved he is a top-class goalkeeper – he has made one or two really good saves.

“But it was there for us. It was always going to be difficult at Stoke after playing with 10 men for a large period on Wednesday night.

“But we are disappointed that we have gone to West Ham and then come to Stoke and not picked anything up.

“We certainly deserved to. We certainly didn’t deserve to get beaten in this match.”

Stoke will achieve their best Premier League finish if they remain in 10th place for the rest of the season, but midfielder Stephen Ireland has stressed the Potters are in no mood to settle for their current position.

The Staffordshire outfit, whose highest Premier League final ranking of 11th came in 2009-10, have six more matches to go this term and are looking good for clinching 10th spot. Eleventh-placed West Ham and 12th-placed Aston Villa both have a game in hand over them, but Mark Hughes’s men moved six points clear of those clubs with this home win over Hull.

The gap between Stoke and ninth place – presently occupied by a Newcastle side that have six fixtures left – is also six points.

Ireland said: “We have to keep chasing ninth – that’s all we can do and it’s what we want to do.

“We don’t want to settle for 10th, because we don’t want to get complacent. We want to keep going and going. You never know – there could be something riding on the last game of the season for us at West Brom, which is what we are hoping.

Stoke City: Begovic, Cameron, Shawcross, Wilson, Pieters, Whelan (Palacios 82), Nzonzi, Odemwingie, Ireland, Arnautovic (Adam 85), Crouch (Guidetti 87). 
Unused substitutes: Muniesa, Etherington, Wilkinson, Sorensen.

Hull City: Harper, Chester, Bruce (Aluko 71), Davies, Elmohamady, Meyler, Livermore, Huddlestone (Quinn 82), Rosenior, Long, Jelavic (Sagbo 79). 
Unused substitutes: Figueroa, Koren, Fryatt, Jakupovic.

Referee: N Swarbrick (Lancashire).
Man of the match: Peter Odemwingie.