HULL CITY: Brown - confidence is returning

PHIL Brown believes confidence is coming back to his Hull City side following their 2-1 defeat of Stoke City on Sunday.

Brown was in Atalanta to see Richard Garcia score twice in the 2-2 draw with the Italian Serie A side last night.

And he believes the performance in Italy is evidence that as the pressure releases off his players, the better they are getting.

Asked about the effects of the Stoke victory he said: "I think less pressure but more confidence where the players are concerned.

"When you ask the players to play football you have to play with confidence and here we have seen a little more confidence.

"Hopefully we can carry that into the West Ham game."

Garcia equalised twice for City but Bernard Mendy, Andy Dawson and George Boateng all missed after the game went to spot-kicks.

Brown added: "I thought it was a very good game. Both sides have injuries and international players away.

"A lot of young players had a look at the game and I thought it was very entertaining – two very good goals from Atalanta and two very good goals from us."