Away-day tonic boosts Hughes

Hull City 2, Manchester City 2

MANCHESTER City manager Mark Hughes believes his side have finally turned a corner with their away form, despite surrendering a 2–1 lead to take a point from their visit to Hull.

City’s weakness on the road has seen them collect just five points from a possible 21 away from home, but Hughes saw enough in the 2–2 draw at the KC Stadium to convince him better times lay ahead.

Stephen Ireland provided the standout performance, completing a first–half double with a delightful curled effort to put City in front before the break.

Daniel Cousin had earlier given Hull the lead after a horrendous back pass from Tal Ben–Haim, before Geovanni restored parity with a deflected free–kick.

“We needed a positive result and a positive performance and I think that’s what we got,” said Hughes.

“Ideally, we’d have preferred three points but key was to have an improvement on away performances.

“In recent weeks they haven’t been anywhere near what they needed to be to get points at Premier League level.

“So, we’ve got a point. It could have been more, it could have been three, but we’ll take it and it sets us up for the games we have ahead of us.”

Arsenal and Manchester United are next up in the league for Hughes and his side and the Welshman hopes the Eastlands club are over a slump which saw them lose three consecutive matches before yesterday’s result.

“We’re not the finished article yet, we’re very early in our development and it’s going to take time,” he said.

“I’ve said this week that along the way there will be a little bit of pain and we’ve gone through a some of that already.

“But hopefully the way we played today, with top sides coming up, will help us.

Hull boss Phil Brown paid tribute to Brazilian star Geovanni, who scored his sixth goal for the Tigers since signing on a free from Manchester City.

Asked if he would trade the former Barcelona midfielder for his compatriot Robinho, who cost a British transfer record, he answered: “Not in a million years.

“Why? Because mine was free and I can’t afford £32.5million!

“In fairness, Robinho came up to me after the game and shook my hand. I think he spoke Spanish, which I know a little bit of. He seems a nice fellow and a good footballer, but so is Geo.

“He’s a talented lad.”

It was Geovanni’s first match against his former club and there had been much pre–match speculation over his head to head with the most expensive man in British football.

And Brown was pleased his early–season match–winner did not allow the increased media interest to compromise his performance.

“The lad is very calm and if there was any pressure on him I didn’t detect it,” added Brown.

“If anyone was under pressure where football is concerned, Geo certainly wasn’t.”