Hughes wants positive finish to disappointing Stoke campaign

Stoke City’s campaign may have been disappointing but manager Mark Hughes insists they can finish with a flourish and ensure their fans enter the summer break in optimistic mood.

The Potters have secured their Premier League status for another year, but results and performances have left a lot to be desired for large parts of the campaign – with several big guns misfiring and an over-reliance on the likes of Peter Crouch and Jonathan Walters the source of crowd frustrations.

But Hughes is desperate to finish on a high note, with winnable games against West Ham, Bournemouth and Southampton to come, as well as a clash with Arsenal.

(Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images)

“Expectations are rising every year and this year – maybe because of the expectation – there’s a little bit of disappointment at how the season has panned out,” he said.

“But if we just step back a bit from that slight disappointment, I think, overall, we can see we’re still a strong side in this league, pushing to do things that have never been done here.

“You don’t want to be ending seasons with the attitude that there’s nothing there [to play for] and it just peters out.

“That’s certainly not what we’re trying to do with the games we’ve got remaining.

“It’s about really pushing now. We’ve got really good confidence from last weekend [a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough] and good games to come as well that we can enjoy.

“So hopefully that bit of freedom that should be in our play will help us.”