Hull City 2 Manchester City 2: Hart-break for England, good break for Ireland

By Peter Ferguson for MailOnline Updated: 07:39 EDT, 17 November 2008

Stephen Ireland, a homegrown gem who Manchester City should cherish for all their new-found riches, produced a goal worthy of any expensive Brazilian to end a worrying run of three successive defeats for Mark Hughes.

Robinho, the club-record £34million import whose signature was a marker for City's ambitious Abu Dhabi-based owners, led the side out at the KC Stadium but it was Ireland who brought a welcome ray of sunshine into the club's troubled spell.

The midfielder's brilliantly executed second goal from the edge of the penalty area just before half-time, as cool as you like and curling well away from Hull City goalkeeper Boaz Myhill, was not quite enough to snatch victory.

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City slicker: Ireland celebrates his second goal

Phil Brown's shock troops, themselves fighting to recover from three beatings after their stellar start to life in the Barclays Premier League, rescued a point when Eastlands reject Geovanni snatched a deflected free-kick equaliser, making it 2-2 on the hour.

But Hughes, whose job has been the subject of speculation despite an unqualified statement of support from the club's Arab owners, did see his side recover resolutely from the gift goal handed to Daniel Cousin after 13 minutes.

Even the early loss of England Under 21 goalkeeper Joe Hart, who could be out for a month with ankle damage sustained trying to thwart Cousin, could not undermine a City display that gave Hughes satisfaction and fresh optimism. 

The City boss has had only the slim 3-2 UEFA Cup win over FC Twente to offset damaging defeats by Middlesbrough, Bolton and, at home, Tottenham in recent weeks, so there was an element of relief for him.

The pressure will be eased by this heartening performance, but City - only a point clear of the bottom three - now face a trio of demanding matches against Arsenal, Schalke and Manchester United.

At least Hughes will feel lifted this week.

He said: 'We're not the finished article yet - it's very early in our development and along the way there will be a little bit of pain. But this was a good performance and it will help us. We can go out and show what we can do now.

'Stephen Ireland is having an outstanding season. He's a quality player. In other games we've not picked him out as well, but he makes the right runs driving into the box and if we'd picked him out more we'd have scored more goals.'

Errors might not be good for a manager's health but, in terms of making a match a spectacle, they can be just what the fans ordered on a cold November afternoon by the Humber.

Marlon King gets a lift from Hull scorer Daniel Cousin

Tal Ben Haim set the standard he would rather not have when the Israel defender - so dependable at Bolton under Sam Allardyce and Phil Brown - made a complete hash of a simple back-pass on 13 minutes.

Micah Richards, still not back to his old self despite an England call-up on Saturday night, might have done better to belt the ball clear instead of passing the buck, but there was no excuse for the weak ball Ben Haim delivered.

He left Hart in a hopeless position and the alert Cousin - who was close enough to be in plain sight of both defenders - nipped in to score the opener despite the goalkeeper's brave and costly dive at his feet.

Cousin might have had a second - he completely missed a header from the recalled Sam Ricketts' cross - but, on 36 minutes, the presents were being handed out again, with Ireland the lucky recipient.

Cousin was the initial culprit, with his loose pass in midfield finding Darius Vassell, but it was Kamil Zayatte who then teed up Ireland in the penalty area for a chance the City midfielder could hardly miss.

Ireland's strike eight minutes later was a world away. Indeed, it was world class. And it remained the goal of the game when Geovanni's second equaliser flicked off Vincent Kompany's head to wrong-foot poor Kasper Schmeichel.

Hull boss Brown said: 'That's the sort of game that will bring the fans back. The confidence goes when we concede a goal, but I'm proud of their second-half performance. We deserved something.'

Referee Phil Dowd booked stand-in skipper Robinho and Ireland for breaking too quickly at a free-kick, leaving Hughes biting his tongue, but Brown admitted: 'I told the players to demand the full 10 metres. He's a top ref doing his job.'

HULL CITY (4-3-1-2): Myhill 6; McShane 6, Zayatte 5, Turner 6, Ricketts 6; Boateng 6 (Halmosi 85min), Ashbee 6, Marney 6; Geovanni 7; King 6, Cousin 7 (Barmby 76). Booked: McShane, Marney.

MANCHESTER CITY (4-2-3-1): Hart 6 (Schmeichel 18, 6); Zabaleta 6, Richards 6, Ben Haim 4, Garrido 6; Kompany 7, Ireland 8; Vassell 6, Wright-Phillips 6, Robinho 6; Benjani 5 (Jo 76).
Booked: Ben Haim.

Man of the match: Stephen Ireland.

Referee: Phil Dowd.