Newcastle midfielder Colback should not have been on the pitch, bemoans Stoke boss Hughes

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes claimed referee Kevin Friend was not brave enough by failing to dismiss Jack Colback in the Potters' 1-1 draw against Newcastle on Sunday.

The 25-year-old produced a reckless tackle on Victor Moses with the score locked at 0-0, before the former Sunderland man put the Magpies in front with a sliced effort from the edge of the area.

And Hughes said Friend should have been “stronger” by handing the midfielder a second yellow card, adding his team showed great character to stun the Toon with a late equaliser.

“The disappointment from our point of view is that the referee hasn’t been brave enough to make the key decision of the game,” said Hughes.

“You don’t advocate sending players off, but he needs to be stronger in that circumstance with Colback on a yellow card and makes a challenge that is clearly a second yellow card and would have been sent off as a consequence.

“The referee hasn’t made the decision. He knows deep down that he should have done and as a consequence the lad picks himself up, still involved in the game, and then he scores Newcastle’s goal when he shouldn’t have been on the pitch.

“Given those circumstances a lesser team than ourselves with lesser character would have been disappointed with it and let the game go away from them.

“We weren’t prepared to do that. We showed great character, great determination to get something out of the game that we deserved to get.”