Hull City 2 Ipswich Town 1: Patience pays off for Bruce as Proschwitz nets timely double

STEVE Bruce has been in management long enough to know that predicting exactly when a foreign import will settle can be a hazardous business.

A new language, a different culture and a home far away from friends and family can all leave a player struggling to adapt.

Some, of course, settle straight away with Bruce having been delighted in the past to see strikers Asamoah Gyan and Amr Zaki hit the goalscoring trail from the moment they arrived in the Premier League with his Sunderland and Wigan Athletic sides respectively.

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Others, though, have been slow burners with Wilson Palacios and Maynor Figueora both initially taking plenty of time to settle in English football.

In Figueora’s case, the Honduran even suffered the misery of being left out by Bruce for the best part of a year following his arrival in 2007. Now, though, Figueora is an integral part of a Latics side currently in its eighth season among the elite.

No wonder, therefore, that the Hull manager has been willing to be so patient with £2.6m import Nick Proschwitz following his summer arrival from SC Paderborn.

Considering the transfer outlay, much was expected of the 6ft 3ins striker this term. However, after struggling in his first four starts, Proschwitz was dropped to the bench and has hardly had a look-in since.

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Despite that, Bruce has continued to publicly back the 25-year-old and that support finally yielded reward as Ipswich Town’s resistance was ended by two timely goals from the German.

Brought on with a little under a quarter of the game remaining and with Paul Jewell’s Tractor Boys leading thanks to a first-half strike from Jay Emannuel-Thomas, Proschwitz displayed the predatory instinct that persuaded Bruce to spend big in the summer.

The late double ensured justice was done at the end of a game in which Hull dominated to such an extent that they carved out 21 attempts on goal to the visitors’ nine.

For Proschwitz, his first two goals in the Championship came as a blessed relief and the German was quick to praise Bruce.

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He said: “Like a lot of strikers, there have been times in my career when I don’t score. But then there are times when you may score 12 goals in 10 games or something like that.

“That is the life of a striker. It is how it is. But I am happy to have my first goals. A lot was expected from me when I signed.

“The fee was very big. But I had a long pre-season in Germany and was coming to a new country.

“I also feel the Championship is different to Germany. There is not much midfield play. The ball goes forward quickly, there are long balls and you have to fight with defenders. So I knew I would have to be patient and wait for my chance.

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“For me, the big thing is the manager here believes in me. When a striker has that, you keep going and the goals do start coming. That is what has happened at Hull. The two crosses for my goals were great. Since the first day he arrived, Ahmed Elmohamady has shown what a good player he is.”

Proschwitz’s praise of Elmohamady is justified with it being the Egyptian’s fantastic delivery from the right flank during a pulsating finale that ultimately decided the game in Hull’s favour.

First, he showed great agility to get to the byline on 74 minutes and drill a low cross for Proschwitz to tap in from close range.

Then, after Hull had peppered the Ipswich goal with a host of shots to no avail, Elmohamady repeated the trick in the third minute of stoppage time with another delightful delivery from out wide.

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Unlike the equaliser, Proschwitz still had a bit to do to take advantage but he did it in style with a bullet header that gave Stephen Henderson no chance in the Ipswich goal.

Cue celebratory scenes all round the KC Stadium that were a mixture of joy and relief that an afternoon in which the Tigers had been by far the better side would, indeed, end with a sixth league win of the season safely squirrelled away.

Losing so late was rough on Ipswich. But, on the balance of play, the visitors from Suffolk could have few complaints with the result, even though they led for more than a third of the game.

Emannuel-Thomas had given Town that lead just before the half-hour mark, the former Doncaster Rovers loanee making light of poor attempted challenges from Liam Rosenior and Paul McShane to drill a shot past Ben Amos.

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The goal came against the run of play with Seyi Olofinjana, Jay Simpson, Sone Aluko and Stephen Quinn having all gone close before the deadlock was broken.

Once behind, Hull did labour for a period and had DJ Campbell not wasted a glorious opportunity on 65 minutes then the result could have been very different.

Instead, Bruce’s response to Campbell’s profligacy was to bring Proschwitz off the bench to kick-start a dramatic late fightback that ensured a week in which the Tigers manager became a grandfather for the first time ended on another high.

“I don’t know what formation we played with so many strikers on the pitch to try and win it,” said Bruce, whose son Alex became a father on Thursday when baby daughter Ava was born.

“In this division, it is better to take the philosophy to go for it, rather than settling for 1-1.

“We stuck at it and got our reward.”