Bristol City 2-0 Stoke: Championship hosts spring a surprise thanks to goals from Famara Diedhiou and Matt Taylor

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In his playing days Mark Hughes could never be accused of being second best – but that's how he described his Stoke side as they crashed out of the Carabao Cup.

Two second-half goals by Famara Diedhiou and Matty Taylor were the least that Championship surprise package Bristol City deserved despite themselves making nine changes.

And Hughes, who picked his first choice defence for a competition he believed his side could do well in, struggled to hide his anger.  

Bristol City's Famara Diedhiou wheels away in celebration after opening the scoring

Diedhou put his team in front after 50 minutes of the Carabao Cup clash at Ashton Gate

Matty Taylor doubled the home side's lead soon after with a composed finish

Taylor punches the air in celebration after scoring for the home side in the second half

'We have to be better than that,' he said. 'They executed their plan far better than we did.

'We were poor, we were second best all over the field for 90 minutes and it doesn't matter at what level you play if you don't get the fundamentals right you will struggle.

'There were no excuses for it. The players were made aware they were facing a side that has been in good form and scoring goals and we had to be ready.

'Credit to them because I can't say anything negative about how City played albeit I can say plenty about our own performance and the referee's.

'I don't think I made too many changes. I picked a strong side because I wanted to do well in this competition.'

Since taking over from Tony Pulis in 2013 Hughes has now delivered only one half-decent cup run in five seasons, when he reached the League Cup semi-finals in 2016.

He had targeted this as the year to put that right, keeping skipper Darren Fletcher in his line-up as well as picking his first choice defence. 

Charlie Adam of Stoke City and Josh Brownhill of Bristol City in action

Bristol City's Jens Hegeler and Stoke City's Eric Maxim Choupo Moting go for the ball

Stoke City's Darren Fletcher gestures as if to say he cannot hear his team-mates

Stoke did have some bad luck when Kurt Zouma's header hit the bar just before half-time and City's debut keeper Luke Steele made an outstanding double save to deny Erik Choupo-Moting then Ramadan Sobhi.

They were also denied by a brilliant bit of defending from Flint, who cleared off the line twice from first Bruno Martins Indi and then Wimmer.

But mostly they were too sloppy in their passing, too far off the pace as they were hustled in midfield by an energetic City side, and too careless with their finishing as both Saido Berahino and Ramadan Sobhi missed golden chances.

When giant striker Diedhiou, the club's record signing when he joined from French club Angers in the summer, struck it was no more than City deserved.  

Bristol City defender Aden Flint and goalkeeper Luke Steele keep the ball out of the net

Ramadan Sobhi of Stoke City crosses the ball during the first half of the encounter

Peter Crouch was unable to break the deadlock for the visitors during the first half

The Senegal international was one of only two players not rested by boss Lee Johnson from the team that thumped four past Derby at the weekend, but he couldn't have been sharper as he followed in with a simple header after Taylor's effort rebounded off the post.

Taylor, just back from a serious groin injury, outpaced Wimmer for that one and then embarrassed the former Spurs defender again as he left him before firing a shot that gave goalkeeper Lee Grant no chance.

City assistant Dean Holden said: 'The lads were all delighted for Matty and you could see that in their celebration.

'When you are coming back from a bad injury it is tough, but he is such a positive person who just backs himself all the time.'

It could have been an even bigger defeat for Stoke. Goalkeeper Lee Grant saved from Diedhiou in the first minute, and stopped Taylor adding a third near the end when once again he'd beaten Wimmer for pace.