Hull City boss Steve Bruce paid tribute to the spirit of his old guard after an excellent 3-1 win at Sunderland propelled the Tigers out of the Premier League relegation zone yesterday.
City ended a run of 10 games without a victory when goals from Gaston Ramirez, James Chester and Nikica Jelavic completed a stirring comeback at the Stadium of Light.
Despite trailing inside 30 seconds, when Curtis Davies' mistake let in Adam Johnson to open the scoring, City responded in the style demanded by Bruce to deliver a first win since October 4.
Praising a starting XI that included eight veterans of the Championship promotion year of 2012-13, Bruce said: "I am delighted for those who came in.
"The eight who played from the Championship. From (Liam) Rosenior, to Alex (Bruce), to (Stephen) Quinn, to (Sone) Aluko. To a man they were absolutely terrific.
"We've needed to be. We came here with six of our big players missing and to come and win was terrific, especially in the manner in which we did. I can't remember my goalkeeper making a save."
Without over £30m worth of talent either through suspension or injury, City's fight was all the more pleasing after Davies' underhit backpass let in Johnson for a disastrous opening.
"Sometimes, there is no hiding place. It was one of those awful things, whether you are a player or manager. A horrible, horrible mistake. To be fair, after that it would have been easy to capitulate. It took us 15-20 minutes, particularly Curtis, to settle down," Bruce said.
"I wasn't surprised how they responded and I felt the best team won at a canter.
"Especially in the second half, I thought it was a total domination for us. It was good to see the response of the team, which Curtis needed the help of."
City were worthy winners on the back of a controlled second half display but Sunderland boss Gus Poyet was unhappy with two penalty claims that were waved away at the end of the first half.
Both Alex Bruce and Stephen Quinn appeared to handle inside the City box but Andre Marriner felt neither incident warranted a spot-kick.
"I've got a great life and I am not going to give the FA one penny," explained Poyet.
"He (Marriner) doesn't need to have my respect, unfortunately, I'm not going to give anything about him. (He will) take nothing from me or from this club. He should look after himself.
"After the penalty incident the game changed. The atmosphere in the stadium and the emotions of the players changed.
"It's difficult to cope with those decisions. We spent too much energy on why it was not given."
Bruce's opinion, though, was markedly different after a fourth successive win over his former club.
He added: "For me, the referee has got it right. They are a difficult one. Quinn's, in particular, is when his hand is trying to protect his face. He does take it on the chin.
"When close to you like that, how are you supposed to get out of the way. For me, the referee showed common sense.
"I don't see either being blatant, either one of them. We got the
decisions, which over the last eight weeks hasn't been the case. So, if we did get one go for us, we gratefully take it."
