Ruben Selles hailed the “brilliant team spirit” of 10-man Hull as they earned a valiant 1-1 Sky Bet Championship draw at Bristol City.
The visitors faced a fight for most of the game after having striker Joao Pedro sent off for a late tackle on George Tanner just seconds after shooting his side ahead from Abu Kamara’s 13th-minute pass.
Anis Mehmeti’s 12th goal of the season, sending goalkeeper Ivor Pandur the wrong way from the spot after Alfie Jones had been booked for fouling Sinclair Armstrong inside the box on 54 minutes, earned the hosts a point.
Hull boss Selles, who was booked in the second half, said: “Sometimes you have to go through difficult moments to see what you have in a dressing room and today the togetherness of the team was there for all to see.
“With 11 men, we were the better side and deserved to score first. I don’t want to talk about the sending off and the penalty. I would rather concentrate on the brilliant team spirit of my players.
“The club will look at the sending off and decide whether to appeal. The biggest thing today was that every player put in a good performance.
“The team is growing and progressing in the direction I want. We are competitive and hopefully we can show the same spirit and determination in all our remaining games.
“It was a big team effort for the entire match. The frustration is that we came to win and if we had kept 11 players on the pitch we might have remained the better side.
“After the red card we had to change our plan. That’s football and the players adapted and fought for every ball.”
With Bristol City head coach Liam Manning suffering from a lost voice as a result of shouting from the touchline, assistant Chris Hogg met the press after the game.
He said: “We didn’t score more goals than them and that is the overriding frustration. There were times when we could have believed in ourselves more and shown greater conviction.
“With Hull going down to 10 men so early, I am sure people expected us to steamroller them, but it’s never that easy.
“They defended their box well, blocking a lot of shots, so all credit to them for that. We got into plenty of good areas, but didn’t quite have the quality to get a second goal.
“We have a group of players who are great to work with and desperate to win. Sometimes that leads to moments of real quality and sometimes it brings frustration at not quite being able to get over the line.”
