Manager comments: Blues 1-0 Hull

Blues manager Gary Rowett has hailed his side’s performance which lead to a vital three points as they defeated Hull City 1-0.

He told bcfc.com: “I think that would rank up there as one of the best performances since we’ve been here.

“You saw what we`re about tonight when we show the energy and the quality. I thought tonight we were excellent.”

Rowett particularly pointed out his side’s first half performance, he said: “That little bit of quality got us springing onto counter-attacks and I thought we did that fantastically well in the first-half and got into some great positions.

“We rode our luck a couple of times, they hit the post and bar, which I think you’re always going to have to do against a very strong and powerful Hull team.

“But we’ve created lots of opportunities ourselves and I thought in the first-half we were the better team and had the better chances.”

On his side’s defensive display, he added: “We knew we’d have to defend resolutely for long periods against a top side.

“We worked amazingly hard as a team. We moved across the pitch well, our defensive structure was really good and I thought with a bit more composure in the second-half we`d have got into better positions”.

Hull City boss Steve Bruce was frustrated with the outcome of the game and told hullcitytigers.com: “I thought we deserved something from the game, certainly in terms of the chances we created.

“We’ve hit the bar, the post and we must have had three or four other really good chances but we weren’t clinical enough to take them and that leaves me disappointed. It’s a frustration.

“We didn’t do a lot wrong. We dominated the game but we’ve been punished for not taking our chances.”