Hull City boss Steve Bruce admits he considered a deadline day swoop for Crystal Palace signing Thomas Ince.

But delays over cutting loose Danny Graham from his loan scuppered his plans.

Graham eventually moved to Middlesbrough, so freeing up a loan spot in Hull's squad, but it was too late to do a deal with Blackpool for Ince.

"Unless something happened earlier, we might have been in the ball park. I couldn't take that risk for Incey himself.

"We always knew it was a loan deal. Crystal Palace got through it by buying (Jason) Puncheon. We didn't really have any possibility. Danny Graham didn't go through until 10.55pm."

Asked if there had been any mischief at work, Bruce added: "I'm sure there was."