Hughes lauds Cisse debut

Cisse completed his move from Lazio yesterday and went straight into the side for the game against Aston Villa.

The former Liverpool and Sunderland striker showed he had not lost his eye for goal with a crisp low drive to put the Hoops in front.

And his performance came as no surprise to Hughes who believes he will be even better once he beds in.

"He's a quality player and that's why I brought him to the club because I know that he can threaten in behind," Hughes told Sky Sports.

Qualities

"He's a threat and will give that to us once we understand his strengths and he understands the strengths of the team, and the different qualities his team-mates have.

"We will get the best out of him on the training ground as well. So it's about making sure we put the work in to exploit the great talent he has."

Cisse will have been disappointed his team-mates could not hold on to the lead which was doubled by Stephen Warnock's own goal.

But Darren Bent scored his 100th Premier League on the stroke of half-time before Charles N'Zogbia volleyed home to earn his side a draw.

Despite leading by two goals, Hughes was still pleased to have grabbed a point.

Problems

He added: "They scored just before half-time and that gave them a lift, but in the first half I thought we were good value for our win and we created a lot chances.

"Djibril Cisse caused them a lot of problems up front and took his goal superbly well. Obviously we are the away side and you expect to come under a little of pressure, and that's obviously what happened.

"Credit to the guys, I thought they stuck at it and worked their socks off but Villa are a good side, when they have Keane and the like coming into those spaces just off the front.

"It was a difficult night and we stuck at it, and before the game if you said we would have got a point here, we would have taken that"