MARK Hughes urged City to keep their foot on the floor after making it four wins out of five.

Two more goals from Andy Cook and a Tyreik Wright strike on his full debut earned a 3-0 victory over Stevenage - and lifted them a place to fifth in the table.

Hughes wants to see that snowball effect continue as the momentum builds around Valley Parade.

“We talked about that after the game,” he said. “It’s important we’re able to get on a roll now.

“When you get that momentum, you look forward to every game. You don’t hope to win games, you expect to win them with that confidence behind you.

“That’s where we find ourselves at the moment and we need to maintain that.”

Cook is now up to 11 goals - only one short of his tally for the whole of last season. But Hughes again called for the City striker to get a fairer deal with officials.

“I’m jumping up and down on the sidelines. I’ve been there before as a striker when you feel you’re not getting enough from the officials to allow you to play.

“I’ve got a lot of time for Andy. He’s up there battling against teams that are really physical.

“A lot more challenges are going unpunished the way the game is being refereed now and that’s not helping good players.

“I think it allows defensive-minded players to get away with a little bit more than they have done in the past. That’s a shame.

“But he’s doing great. The comparison with me is only slight because I never used to score goals like Andy from two or three yards.

“That shows he’s a natural goal-scorer. I was never one of those so credit to him.

“They know if they put the ball into good areas, then more often than not Andy will get on the line of it.

“I’m sure Andy is enjoying his football at the moment and he’s playing in a good team. That’s why he’s scoring goals.”

Hughes was disappointed to see Brad Halliday’s “unnecessary” sending-off in the last minute after receiving his second booking following a foul on Saxon Earley.

“He just mistimed the tackle,” added the City boss. “It was a whole-hearted challenge from both and their lad’s just got in front of him prior to him trying to get the ball.

“With the letter of the law it is a yellow, although I’m not quite sure about the first one.

“At that late stage, it was unnecessary but it didn’t affect us.

“Stevenage are a difficult side to go against. We had to stand up to the challenge because they ask questions of you physically.

“When we match the physicality that teams have, at some point our football will get the opportunity and that’s when we take games away from the opposition. We’ve got more strings to our bow possibly than other teams have.”