STEVE HARPER admits he wishes Hull City could play in the North-East every week as they look to safeguard their Premier League status and continue progressing in the FA Cup.

Hull's two league away wins this term have come at Newcastle and Sunderland, with January's FA Cup third-round win at Middlesbrough completing a notable North-East hat-trick.

As a proud son of the region, Harper admits there is a special resonance to the treble, which was completed by Saturday's 2-0 win at the Stadium of Light.

“We've struggled away from home, but we seem to like this part of the world,” said the former Newcastle United goalkeeper. “We won at Newcastle, beat Middlesbrough in the FA Cup and have now won here (at the Stadium of Light). Sadly, that's the end of the North-East away games!

“I enjoyed it. I've been here a few times now and still not lost. It's always nice to win, and when you've been up the road as long as I was, it always adds a bit extra to it, but the main thing was the result.

“If we'd lost, we could have been 17th, but we won and now we're close to being in and around the top half. That's how tight it is.

“It was a very happy dressing room. There were a few ex-Sunderland lads in there, delighted to come back. And I'm sure the manager was pretty chuffed as well...”

Steve Bruce downplayed the personal significance of the win in his post-match press briefing, but the former Sunderland boss will surely have been delighted at triumphing on his first return to the Stadium of Light, less than two-and-a-half years after he was dismissed from his position as Black Cats boss.

Harper has played under a host of bosses in his two decades in the game, and feels the caricature of Bruce as a managerial dinosaur is misplaced.

“He's far from being a caricature old-school manager,” he said. “In my first ten games here, we played three different formations. He's also changed formations during games or at half-time and has a real flexibility.

“He's got a good staff and it's a really good football club with a good dressing room. Hopefully, we can kick on. It'll be tough, but with the statement the board made in January by signing quality, proven players, it's given us a great chance.”