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The former England international has not started a game for almost a month, but came off the bench as Stoke fought back to beat Southampton 2-1 in the Premier League on Saturday.
Stoke manager Hughes was impressed with the impact the much-travelled forward made in his cameo appearance and is taking a cautious approach with the 34-year-old, given that he is not fully fit.
The Welshman said: "Peter's been struggling with groin injury, likelihood is that he will have an operation at the end of the season.
Article continues below"We're just trying to manage him through games, so 20-25 minutes is probably the max that he can be effective, he came on and certainly was."
Charlie Adam completed Stoke's fightback with a winner six minutes from time at the Britannia Stadium as Southampton missed a chance to go fifth.
