Hughes encouraged by Asia win

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes was encouraged by what he saw in their 2-0 win over a Singapore Select XI but said he is still looking to strengthen his squad with further signings.

The Potters took third place in the Asia Trophy with their win on Saturday, which followed a loss on penalties to Everton following a goalless draw on Wednesday.

Hughes said: "Yes I am encouraged. We haven't hit the heights that we know we will do in the season. Obviously we are still coming together as a group, but I'm encouraged by the technical ability that we've added to the group."

And Hughes took time to single out Spanish striker Joselu, who made the move to the Britannia Stadium from Hannover for £5.75m last month.

"I think Joselu will be good for us, I think he's certainly added to the clinical ability of the squad, so we are really pleased with that acquisition and the other guys that we brought to the club will be strong and help us right from the start of the Premier League, right to the end."

Responding to questions whether Stoke are chasing Andriy Yarmolenko of Dynamo Kiev, Hughes added: "He is the level of player that we hope to bring if we can, but we missed out on a couple of players, we weren't able to get them over the line.

"We are still hopeful that we will be able to get a player of real top, top quality. If we can do that then I think we will probably be done for the window."

Stoke skipper Steve Sidwell put his side in front after just seven minutes on another humid evening at Singapore's National Stadium, prodding a Peter Crouch flick past goalkeeper Izwan from close range.

Marko Arnautovic produced flashes of class and scored a neat second-half goal.