Hull City feared Jimmy Bullard's knee injury sustained on debut for the Tigers was similar to the one that kept him out for 16 months while at Fulham.

The £5 million signing went down against West Ham at Upton Park in late January and fears were that he may be sidelined for a lengthy amount of time.

News from Bullard's knee specialist has manager Phil Brown confident that the midfielder will return very soon.

"Hopefully he'll come through a week of training unscathed and we can play him in the Cup against Sheffield United," Brown told BBC Radio Humberside.

"The severity of the old injury sort of plays tricks with your mind and Jimmy would have to be 100% to cross the white line."