Peter Crouch headed home the winner on 15 minutes from Victor Moses' cross from the left before the Potters should have had a penalty when Moses was brought down in the box by Yoan Gouffran, but no spot-kick was awarded.

Substitute Marko Arnautovic then hit the post for Stoke early on in the second period and Jack Colback almost made them pay, but he shot from close range into the crossbar as Alan Pardew's side could not find the equaliser.

Monday's win was Stoke's first in the Premier League at home this term following two losses and Hughes was delighted to finally get the three points in the bag at the Britannia.

He told Sky Sports: "It was important to get the win obviously. The previous two games we'd done OK up to a point, but tonight was about getting the three points and we were able to do that.

"The importance of the first goal is always paramount in the Premier League, and we were able to get that.

"(It was) a great cross from Victor - that's the service we want to give to Crouchy - and when we do get him good service, more often than not he converts chances.

"So overall we had other opportunities on the break. (I) felt we had a stonewall penalty in the first half which wasn't given. We had any other number of breaks; we could have just picked the right pass at the right time.

"As it was, in the end we had a little bit of pressure that we had to deal with, as you expect Alan's team had a real go at the end, but it wasn't to be for them and it was for us."