ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Hull City 2 Manchester City 2:HULL CITY'S supporters were too quick to taunt Mark Hughes with gloating cries of being "sacked in the morning".

True, Manchester City were losing at the time - and it is difficult to think they will concede a more shocking goal all season - but by the end the latest Premier League manager to find his name prefixed with the words "under pressure" was entitled to feel his players did just about enough to show that, even if they remain a work in progress, they have the making of a semi-decent team.

At times they put together some beguiling football. City being City, there were other moments when it was bewildering. But once they had overcome the tragicomedy of Tal Ben Haim presenting the opening goal to their opponents, there were none of the distress signals that might have been associated with a team that had lost their previous three league games and fallen within a point of the relegation zone.

Had that run been extended, it would have represented the club's worst start to a league campaign since their 1995-96 relegation season. Instead Stephen Ireland, the game's outstanding performer, scored twice towards the end of the first half to turn the game upside down and Hughes would have been reflecting on a first away win in the league since August had Geovanni's 60th-minute free-kick not glanced off Vincent Kompany in the defensive wall. The deflection was crucial in helping the ball into the net for the Brazilian's sixth goal since swapping one City for the other in the summer.

After that both sides could have won. "I dare say Mark Hughes will be saying they could have three points but so could we," Phil Brown, the Hull manager, later reflected. The best chance fell to Darius Vassell a minute from the end although it would have been cruel given Hull's contribution to a match of rich entertainment.

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