Bruce has the blend for Hull to bounce back up

STEVE BRUCE believes the youngsters brought in during the summer to rejuvenate Hull City following relegation have been the key to the club’s season finally taking off.
Hull City manager Steve Bruce (Picture: Anna Gowthorpe).Hull City manager Steve Bruce (Picture: Anna Gowthorpe).
Hull City manager Steve Bruce (Picture: Anna Gowthorpe).

The Tigers returned to the automatic promotion places with a 2-0 victory over high-flying Birmingham City that saw the KC Stadium treated to the Yorkshire club’s most complete performance yet.

David Meyler and Abel Hernandez, two veterans of Hull’s most recent stint in the Premier League, scored the all-important goals inside a devastating 97-second period shortly before half-time.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

However, as pleased as he is to see City’s older guard performing well again, Bruce believes that injection of youth in the form of Sam Clucas, Moses Odubajo and Chuba Akpom has proved crucial.

The City chief said: “We needed to blow away the cobwebs in the summer, blow away the disappointment and that is not easy.

“You look at Wolves, Wigan, QPR in the past. How many times do teams struggle in this division after relegation from the Championship?

“The last time I was relegated came at Birmingham (in 2006) and we had to inject a bit of youth, a bit of vigour. It led to us winning promotion at the first attempt.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The young players who we brought in last summer have all brought that. The two from Arsenal (Akpom and Isaac Hayden), Clucas, Moses – they are all young players and it looks like the right blend.

“Jake (Livermore) got man of the match (from the sponsors) but, when I looked around the team, there were people matching him.

“Odubajo, (Andrew) Robertson, Clucas, they were all full of pace. We needed to inject that and we have done it.”

Akpom is at the KC Stadium on a season-long loan deal, while Clucas cost £1.3m from Chesterfield and Odubajo around £3.5m from Brentford.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Bruce added: “It takes time to settle, of course it does. It is a big step up but they were terrific. Look at Moses, he is starting to handle that now and looks a very good player.”

Hull were boosted against Birmingham by not just the new signings but also the more established names such as Livermore, Hernandez and Ahmed Elmohamady.

Goalkeeper Allan McGregor also looks to be back to his best after twice denying Jacques Maghoma early on, while Michael Dawson was again at his dominant best.

Bruce, of course, has that experience of bouncing back to the Premier League at the first attempt with Birmingham.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

However, when asked by The Yorkshire Post if comparisons can be made yet between his Hull side and that Blues outfit of 2006-07, Bruce replied: “I don’t think you can compare it.

“You need a bit of luck and have some resilience. We are starting to see that now. What we need is to get the bounce of the ball and to stay injury- free.”

Alex Bruce did limp out of the Birmingham win with a tight groin to join Curtis Davies, who is out for a month, on the sidelines.

Livermore also came off during stoppage time to leave Hull to see out the game with 10 men but Bruce explained: “That was just tiredness, he had played two games in four days and it caught up with him a bit.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The former Spurs midfielder is likely to be rested against Leicester City in tomorrow’s Capital One Cup fourth round tie.

Bruce added: “We will chop and change but against Birmingham we had (Shaun) Maloney, (Tom) Huddlestone and (Mo) Diame on the bench. We are blessed with a good squad.”

Elsewhere, Leeds United made it two 1-1 draws in as many games under new manager Steve Evans thanks to Mirco Antenucci’s penalty at struggling Bolton Wanderers.

The Scot will be in charge at Elland Road for the first time on Thursday when Blackburn Rovers are the visitors and he is already eyeing the end of United’s 11-game winless run on home soil.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It is an absolute disgrace that this club has not won at Elland Road for seven-and-a-half months. I want Elland Road bouncing but I want it bouncing at the end of this game.”

As for the draw at Bolton, Evans added: “I am frustrated, annoyed. It was a game that we dominated for long spells. We missed chances at key stages and, like Fulham (last Wednesday), gave a silly goal away.

“What I can see is we are thin in certain areas, not thin all over the club. Some of my early thoughts from Fulham were endorsed at Bolton. But there is not going to be any rushing on this. We have to get the right players.”

Middlesbrough remain in the top six after a 3-1 win at Wolves, while Huddersfield Town could not stop another of the promotion hopefuls, Derby County, who left the John Smith’s Stadium with a 2-1 victory.