Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has slammed the referee's decision to award Liverpool a penalty during today's eventful meeting between the two sides.

Raheem Sterling went down under the challenge of Marc Wilson early in the second half, prompting Anthony Taylor to point at the spot and give Liverpool the chance to regain the lead.

Steven Gerrard duly dispatched the penalty, sending the Reds on their way to a 5-3 win, and Hughes believes that the referee may have been influenced by the incident taking place at the end where the away supporters were gathered.

"Soft, easy - any adjective you like really. When players go down in the box the referee is going to have difficult decisions, we all know that, but I don't know whether that penalty would've been given at the other end," PA quotes Hughes as saying.

"The reaction of the player himself, he immediately looks towards the referee, is a give-away and the fact there are about 3,000 Liverpool fans behind that goal as well reacting to it means unfortunately the referee has bought it and it's a poor decision.

"There was a hint of handball [by Sterling] and he has been given the benefit of the doubt. Given that we had come back from 2-0 down in the first half and got back on level terms I thought the momentum was with us and half-time came at a bad time as we were very much in the ascendency. Almost immediately the game is taken away from us once again."

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has also admitted that the call was soft.