Hughes and Wagner united in penalty protests

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes and his Huddersfield Town counterpart David Wagner both felt their respective teams were denied clear penalties in a 1-1 Premier League draw on Tuesday.

Star Huddersfield midfielder Aaron Mooy went to ground under a challenge from Joe Allen in the second half at John Smith's Stadium, where Mame Biram Diouf was then brought down at the other end of the field.

Referee Anthony Taylor dismissed the appeals of the two sides, as they were forced to settle for a share of the spoils after Ramadan Sobhi's goal for the visitors cancelled out Tom Ince's early opener. 

And Stoke boss Hughes, who is reportedly fighting to avoid the sack, was adamant his side should have been awarded a spot-kick. 

"We feel a little bit aggrieved if I'm honest, clearly a penalty on Mame Diouf, he's shaping to protect the ball in the box and his legs have been taken away from him," he told Sky Sports.

"Whether or not the referee was influenced by the home team and the home crowd, because they had a penalty call a few moments before, which clearly wasn't a penalty - Joe Allen just shepherded the ball away - maybe that affected his decision making in terms of what he should have done for us."

For his part, Wagner was equally insistent that Allen should have been punished, although he did acknowledge that Diouf's claim also appeared legitimate. 

Asked if he felt Taylor should have sided with the hosts when the Terriers' Australia international was felled, the German replied: "Absolutely I do, I've seen our situation in the video footage again, it was a clear penalty where the opponent didn't touch the ball, he only touched Aaron Mooy, a clear penalty when it was 1-1. 

"I think, from my position during the game, Stoke's penalty [appeal] was as well a situation where they could have got a penalty."

DW: “I’m very pleased with the performance. We were aggressive and controlled the open play, but they were dangerous from set pieces and scored too” #htafc (DTS) pic.twitter.com/twhKKlz8aM

— Huddersfield Town (@htafcdotcom) 26 December 2017

A 3-1 win over West Brom in Stoke's previous match, together with a point gained at Huddersfield, could see Hughes afforded a stay of execution, and the manager is hopeful the club's owners will allow him to reinforce during the January transfer window after Ryan Shawcross went off injured in the first half on Tuesday.

"It's about digging in, we're struggling a little bit in terms of defensive personnel, we've lost our skipper again," he said.

"It's a bit tough for the guys at the back. Hopefully we'll get a little bit of help in January as well because we're a little bit short."