Hughes praises Ireland

City boss pleased with impact of his midfielder in 2-2 draw

By Richard Bailey   Last updated: 16th November 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Hughes praises Ireland

Hughes: Delighted with Ireland's form

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Manchester City manager Mark Hughes has singled out midfielder Stephen Ireland for special praise following his side's 2-2 draw against Hull City.

Ireland scored twice in the first half as City had to settle for a point at the KC Stadium.

And Hughes believes Ireland has been his stand out performer this season.

He said: "I thought he was outstanding again and he has been in almost every single game he's played in this year.

"He's worked extremely hard in the summer and he came back fit and strong and wanted to be a part of what we're doing here.

"It's another great performance and he's enjoying his football at the moment and he's having a real impact in every game he plays."

City fell behind early on thanks to some disastrous defending from Tal Ben Haim and suffered a double blow when goalkeeper Joe Hart limped off shortly after but Hughes was pleased with the character his team showed in overcoming their early set-backs.

Character

He said: "Losing Joe was a big blow to us but we got back on level terms very quickly and got our noses in front and we were good value at half time.

"Second half we always looked dangerous were disappointed with the equalising goal because we didn't think it was a free kick in the first place but it was given and they benefited from that.

"All in all I thought the players showed great spirit and we had to show a lot of character given the fact that we went behind so early and losing Joe."

Despite only picking up a point Hughes believes the performance will prepare his side for what is a difficult period ahead with fixtures against Arsenal and Manchester United.

He added: "We wanted to get back on winning terms obviously we haven't quite managed that but a positive away result is what we have managed to achieve.

"We have a lot of difficult games coming up in an intense period but we are looking forward to them now and I think the qualities we showed today will help us."