Bury 1-3 Hull: David Flitcroft and Steve Bruce reaction

Hull manager Steve Bruce praised Chuba Akpom's reaction as he hit an FA Cup hat-trick in City's 3-1 win at Bury on Saturday afternoon.

Bruce has overlooked Akpom since the Championship leaders' defeat at Preston over Christmas and, according to the Tigers boss, the Arsenal loanee striker "spat his dummy out last week".

But the 20-year-old came back into the starting line-up at League One Bury and responded with an early opener before sealing his first senior treble after the break.

The hosts claimed a late consolation but could not prevent the 2014 runners-up booking their place in the fifth round.

Bruce said: "I'm delighted for Chuba. He spat his dummy out last week and threw his toys out of the pram.

"He's a young player with lots of ability and I'm sure it'll do him the world of good. It's good to see him get a hat-trick and I'm sure he'll remember that for a while.

"I used the squad, like I always do, and if I can call on players like that then it bodes well. It was difficult for us because of the conditions but I was pleased with the way we went about it.

"To be fair to Bury, they were spirited and aggressive, and they made it a proper cup tie. In the end, we got the breaks and that little bit of quality saw us through."

Bruce made 11 changes and the new-look XI opened the scoring after 14 minutes when Adama Diomande played in David Meyler, and although his effort was saved by Ian Lawlor, Akpom turned in the rebound.

Ryan Lowe had a goal disallowed from his first touch in the second half and that proved a crucial moment as Hull went straight up the other end to win a 57th-minute penalty.

Reece Brown was deemed to have tripped Aluko, with Akpom sidefooting the spot-kick into the bottom corner and sealing his hat-trick 12 minutes later - cutting back onto his right foot to fire high past Lawlor.

But Bury salvaged some pride with substitute Craig Jones volleying in from Danny Mayor's 86th-minute cross.

Bury manager David Flitcroft was far from impressed by some of the decisions he felt went against his side.

He said: "The penalty decision was an absolute joke. Aluko dived over Reece Brown's leg, a million per cent.

"And Lowey checked his run, he's not offside. I had an instinct about the two decisions but now I've seen them again they're absolutely cast iron.

"Those decisions rip the heart out of you. We had some momentum but then we lost Kelvin Etuhu (to injury) and there was a lull.

"It gave Hull time to breathe and they had spells where they controlled it. I take nothing away from Steve Bruce and the work they did, the professionalism of people like Michael Dawson and Tom Huddlestone.

"But it would have been nice to have had a level playing field and I don't believe we had that today."