By DPA,
London : Hull and Manchester City fought out an entertaining 2-2 draw in the English Premier League, ending runs of three successive defeats for both sides.
A brace from Stephen Ireland had put City ahead after Daniel Cousin’s early tap-in, but Geovanni levelled with a deflected free-kick to grab a share of the points Sunday.
Hull remain sixth, 11 points behind Chelsea and Liverpool, while City moved up to 12th place on goal difference.
Manchester City went into the game having earned just four points from a possible 21 and they went behind on 14 minutes when a terrible back-pass by Tal Ben Haim allowed Cousin to poke in the opening goal.
Hull were looking good but a defensive mistake eight minutes before half-time allowed Ireland to make it 1-1, and the midfielder then put the visitors ahead with a superb finish on the stroke of half-time itself.
The home side continued to fight, though, and Brazilian Geovanni salvaged a point when his free-kick was deflected past Kasper Schmeichel on the hour mark.
At Goodison Park, Everton needed a second-half goal from Ayegbeni Yakubu to seal a 1-1 draw at home with Middlesbrough.
Gary O’Neil gave Middlesbrough an early lead after an excellent counter-attack involving Stewart Downing but Yakubu steered in a Mikel Arteta free-kick from the left to make it 1-1 against his former club 19 minutes into the second half.
David Moyes’s Everton side remain seventh on 19 points, one clear of Middlesbrough.
“We missed a lot of opportunities and have played better,” Moyes said.
“When they went ahead with a goal on the counter-attack there was always the chance that they could do that again, so we needed to be careful.
“But give us credit, we kept going forward although we found it very difficult to score.
“I was pleased for Yakubu to have scored. He had a couple of other chances beforehand so he will be pleased with his effort too. He did a lot better in this one, overall it was a better performance from him.”