Stoke City manager Mark Hughes paid tribute to Peter
Odemwingie for his match-winning contribution in Saturday's 1-0 triumph over
Hull City.
The 32-year-old lit up a lacklustre affair at the
Britannia Stadium, pouncing on a loose pass from Ahmed Elmohamady before
finishing a mazy run with a fierce left-foot strike past a despairing Steve
Harper in the Hull goal.
It marked a third goal in as many Premier League matches
for Odemwingie, and takes his tally to four in total since making the switch to
Stoke from Cardiff City in January.
Hughes was thrilled with the strike, and believes the
Nigerian is thriving due to being "happy in his environment".
"We're pleased with what he's producing,"
Hughes said. "He's obviously come in and he wasn't a risk really because
he's an accomplished Premier League player who has scored goals at this level
so we know what we were getting.
"But you always hope the period of going to a new
club, settling down and getting used to who's around you in the dressing room
is short.
"In fairness to Peter he's come in and seamlessly
picked up some outstanding form. I think that comes in being happy in his
environment and happy in the players that surround him.
"We're reaping the benefits because he's a major
factor in us winning today."
Stoke's victory means they have reached 40 points, widely
acknowledged as a target to achieve Premier League survival, and the Welshman
is looking to finish the campaign in style.
He added: "In my view we're safe now with 40 points,
given the situation of other clubs. We probably were safe last week as well,
but today was key psychologically to get to that 40-point mark.
"We have six games where maybe we can benefit from
being a little bit freer of that pressure of Stoke trying to get 40 points and
hopefully as a consequence our performances will improve."
Culled from Soccerway
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