HULL City boss Steve Bruce saluted new signings Abel Hernandez and Mohamed Diame as their goals delivered a breathless 2-2 draw with West Ham United last night.
Hernandez, signed from Palermo in a club record £10m deal, enjoyed a stunning debut when opening the scoring with an expert downward header, before Diame struck against the club he had left just two weeks earlier.
West Ham twice cancelled out City's strikes, first through Enner Valencia's spectacular effort and then through Curtis Davies' own goal, but Bruce was content with a point from his new-look side.
"I'm happy with a point and it was a great game of football," said Bruce. "The supporters have gone home happy.
"When I analyse it later on it was probably a point gained. You have to give West Ham credit.
"Hernandez and Diame had wonderful debuts and so did their boy (Valencia) who smashed it in from nowhere from a standing start.
"That will do them the world of good both scoring on their debuts but we're just a hint disappointed we couldn't go five or 10 minutes when we got the second one."
Hernandez's impact was all the more impressive when considering he had trained just once with his new team-mates on Sunday.
The Uruguay international only had his visa granted on Saturday, but Bruce's decision to start the 24-year-old was fully vindicated.
As well as converting a fine header from Ahmed Elmohamady's cross, he came within inches of doubling his tally when crashing a long-range shot against the crossbar soon after.
Bruce added: "It was his attitude on Sunday. He just walked in and he was desperate to play. I'm so pleased I did it.
"He has been waiting for two weeks, he has been away in Japan and South Korea and stuck in Rome for the past couple of days waiting for his passport.
"He was full of life in training and that was what made my mind up - seeing the way he was, so I thought just throw him in. He can hardly move now to be honest but he'll be fine, he'll recover."
On Diame, Bruce added: "It's one of those no-brainers. He's played in the Premier League for six years and what I've seen him do tonight, I've seen him do previously with Wigan and West Ham.
"He's a very good midfield player of today. He's big, powerful and handles the ball off two feet."
The impact of City's new boys was eventually diluted by a spirited West Ham comeback. A superb long-range effort from Valencia made it 1-1 before Diafra Sakho's shot squirmed through the goal.
