Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has admitted that he was "a little bit disappointed" with Troy Deeney after the Watford striker sparked a late melee at Vicarage Road.

The 29-year-old angered the opposition by shaping as though he was about to cross into the box, rather than giving the ball back to Stoke after they had put it out of play for an injury.

Ryan Shawcross and Joe Allen were involved in the bust-up, which saw Deeney wrap his hands around the latter's neck, but Hughes believes that his players had every right to react the way they did.

"We're a little bit disappointed with Troy Deeney and his reaction," Sky Sports News quotes him as saying. "Obviously we've kicked the ball out because there were injured players, and they should've given the ball back to us, but they shaped up to put it in our box - which was not in the spirit of the game, and that's why our players reacted. It's not pleasant when you see that.

"He's grabbing him by the face, it's not what you want to see. As I say, our reaction is understandable because we were the aggrieved party, but it hasn't covered him in any kind of good light, in my view. I think we need to avoid situations like that, and he brought it on himself really."

Stoke came away from Hertfordshire with all three points on Saturday afternoon thanks to Darren Fletcher's first-half volley.