Hull City boss Phil Brown admits Jimmy Bullard's impact has surprised him.

Bullard has been outstanding in the last two games for the Tigers since returning from long-term knee injury.

Brown said: "He has surprised us immensely, the fact he has got through 90 minutes in two Premier League fixtures.

"Both of them were forced upon him. He was expecting to come off after 70-75 minutes and had to get through the last 15 minutes with his mental strength.

"But he has bags of that and bags of ability too.

"Maybe in hindsight in the West Ham game the substitution I should have made was Geovanni for Jimmy Bullard.

"But I think I would have struggled to get out of the stadium alive if I had taken Jimmy off. The longer he stays out there the better for me anyway."