Fryatt’s form forces rethink from Bruce over contract

Hull City's Matty Fryatt (right) celebrates scoring his side's third goal against Sunderland on Sunday.

The 28-year-old, who will be out of contract in the summer, has helped fire the Tigers to Wembley with three goals during the run to the semi-finals.

Only Curtis Davies has also scored more than once in Hull’s six matches and Bruce, who just last week vowed to wait until safety was assured in the Premier League before discussing possible new contracts, believes the striker deserves an opportunity to stay.

The Tigers manager said: “Matty has done fantastically well. I now realise what a good player he is.

“We don’t want to lose him. He has proved to be an important player in the Cup, that’s for sure. He has three goals.

“The loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday sharpened him up.

“I hadn’t seen a lot of Matty  Fryatt before that, but I have seen enough now to understand why he is so popular.

“I love his attitude. It has been terrific since the day I met him. To come back from injury like that and score against Sunderland – well, I think he will remember that for a very long time.”

Fryatt suffered a serious Achilles injury in Bruce’s first game at Hull, the Capital One Cup first-round tie against Rotherham United in August, 2012.

It was enough to keep the £1.2m signing from Leicester City out until the run-in that culminated in Hull clinching promotion to the Premier League.

However, despite being in the side that went up, Fryatt struggled for form. That continued into this season and it took a loan switch to Sheffield Wednesday last year to really spark the frontman back into form.

Bruce added: “I missed him last season because he got injured in my first game.

“Everyone knows what a horrible injury he got. He then came back and did everything to get back fit. He is also doing everything to get himself a new contract.

“On that performance on Sunday (against Sunderland) and the same in the last round, Matty has proved to me what a good player he is and, certainly, I will be sitting down with him.

“He is a clever enough boy to know we have (Sone) Aluko and (Yannick) Sagbo plus the two new signings (Nikica Jelavic and Shane Long). But when he is fit like that, he is a very good player for us.”

Alan Pardew has been handed a seven-game ban for the headbutt that the Newcastle United manager aimed at Hull midfielder David Meyler in the game between the clubs earlier this month.

Three of those matches will see the Magpies chief excluded from the stadium where his side are playing. Pardew, who requested a personal hearing, has also been fined £60,000 by the FA.