Fulham manager Mark Hughes thought his Fulham side might have won after earning a vital point at old club Manchester City.
Mario Balotelli fired the hosts in front midway in the first period but the Cottagers deservedly earned a share of the spoils via Damien Duff just after the restart.
The drew pushed Hughes’ side up to 13th in the table, four points above the drop zone and was sweet revenge for the Welshman for his dismissal as City manager 14 months ago.
He said “We played really well today and I’m a bit disappointed to be perfectly honest because I thought we looked the more likely team to score.
“Their goal was completely against the run of play in the first half so obviously one-nil down at this place it’s a difficult situation but I thought my players were excellent today, really took the fight to City and scored a fantastic equalising goal.
“If it’s a criticism of my players today is that on occasion we didn’t just quite pick out the right ball because we had good opportunities because we created some good stuff today.”
There was ill-feeling between Blues’ bosses past and present at the end when Roberto Mancini did not appear to look at his predecessor at the post-match handshake, leading to Hughes pulling his hand away in disgust.
Hughes said: “Well I was a little bit disappointed at the end.
Listen, I was disappointed with the performance of my team when we last played Man City, we lost 4-1, but I acknowledged that Man City on the day were the better team and I acknowledged that with my handshake and I just felt maybe Man City’s manager just didn’t really offer his hand with any sincerity so that’s why I reacted a little bit.
“So I apologise if I upset anybody.” .
