Hull City 0 Man City 2: Hull left dazed as they again see stars at home

For the third time in as many months at the KC Stadium the words of the Tigers’ boss were borne out as David Silva inspired 10-man Manchester City to a victory that could yet prove to be a pivotal one in the title race.

Thanks to the Spaniard delivering a masterclass that included scoring one stunning goal and then creating another with a slide-rule pass, the Blues being reduced to 10 men for 80 minutes following the dismissal of Vincent Kompany was almost turned into an irrelevance.

For Hull, Silva’s inspirational display was frustratingly reminiscent of how Wayne Rooney had single-handedly dragged Manchester United back from the brink on Boxing Day to triumph in the East Riding.

Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, arguably the Premier League’s most consistent player this term, is another star name who has shone at the KC recently and Silva was in the same class to leave Bruce in no doubt as to how his side had been undone.

The Hull chief said: “The top teams have come here and the games have turned on moments involving quality players.

“Silva was in that class, especially with that quality goal. Hazard was the same for Chelsea (in their 2-0 win on January 11) with an absolutely great goal. Rooney also – what a great goal he got to drag United back into it.

“That is what these top teams are capable of. When they need it, their big players produce and Silva was the best player on the pitch by a million miles. Fantastic. He is a quality act, absolute quality act. You don’t score a goal like that if you don’t have a bit of ability.”

Silva’s brilliance meant Manchester City were able to cut Chelsea’s advantage at the top to six points. For Hull, meanwhile, the Spaniard’s match-winning performance means they are still yet to win in the league at the KC since the turn of the year.

Five games have yielded just one point, a slump that can partly be explained away by the standard of opposition with all the visitors to East Yorkshire in 2014 currently to be found in the top half of the table.

Ten minutes into the clash with Pellegrini’s City, however, there seemed genuine hope that a first elusive league win on home soil since New Year’s Day could be in the offing.

Kompany’s blunder in losing control of the ball and then hauling Nikica Jelavic to the ground as he moved to race through on goal was the cause for optimism.

Referee Lee Mason had no option but to reach for his red card and with the Blues having been given something of a runaround in Barcelona less than 72 hours earlier, the hope among the locals was that Hull could exploit tired legs.

Instead, Silva stepped centre stage with the sort of goal that only a handful of players can score. Collecting a pass from Yaya Toure to the right of the Hull penalty area on 14 minutes, he used his first touch to create some space and his second to hit a swerving shot that flew beyond Allan McGregor’s outstretched hand and into the corner of the net.

Once ahead, the Blues’ game plan was clear, namely to retreat to their own territory and then use the slick passing and pace of players such as Silva, Toure and Sami Nasri to break at speed.

The tactic worked well, with one such counter-attack just after the half-hour culminating in Pablo Zabaleta’s shot striking the underside of the crossbar before bouncing down on to the line and to safety.

Hull, allowed as much possession as they wanted before crossing the halfway line, did get the ball in the net during the first half, but David Meyler’s polished finish was rightly ruled out for offside against Jelavic.

That apart, though, Joe Hart had little to do in the opening 45 minutes. Steve Bruce’s response was to bring on Sone Aluko at the interval and the England goalkeeper was undoubtedly busier after the restart.

However, much of Hart’s increased duties involved dealing with high crosses or shots that were straight at him, underlining both how well the Blues’ defence played in front of their goalkeeper and how one-dimensional the Tigers became.

Jelavic should maybe have done better when latching on to Aluko’s free-kick, and Shane Long wasted a fine opportunity when instead of releasing his unmarked strike partner through the middle he instead passed to Meyler.

The visitors did survive two penalty appeals, the first quite rightly with Hart not making any contact with George Boyd as the substitute crashed to the ground.

That sparked an ugly melee that should have seen the Blues goalkeeper dismissed.

Hull’s second appeal appeared stronger with Boyd clearly being barged in the back by Fernandinho as he looked to control the ball.

As frustrated as the Tigers were with Mason’s decision, however, there could be no denying that the visitors once again carried more of an attacking threat in the second half.

Fernandinho somehow shot wide with the goal at his mercy, and Dzeko was denied by a brave block from McGregor with four minutes remaining.

That kept Hull hopes alive until Silva again revealed his class in the 90th minute with a sublime pass for Dzeko, who made no mistake with a cool finish.

Bruce added: “I think the turning point was the goal Silva got. Had we gone 15 or 20 minutes without them scoring then it might have been a different situation.”