Sunday 28 September 2014 08:23, UK
Manuel Pellegrini felt Manchester City recorded a ‘very important’ win after beating Hull City 4-2 at the KC Stadium.
Early goals from Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko put City in command only for Eliaquim Mangala’s own goal and Abel Hernandez’s penalty to draw Hull level before half-time.
Dzeko restored the champions’ lead on 68 minutes and substitute Frank Lampard added a late fourth to leave City five points behind leaders Chelsea, who beat Aston Villa 3-0 at home.
“It was very important because we cannot drop more points,” Pellegrini told Sky Sports about the win. “Chelsea are five points in front of us, so for us it was very important to win away.
“It was important to win away because we lost important points at home against Chelsea and Stoke, so we must recover by winning away games.”
Pellegrini was pleased with the character shown by his players after overcoming the setback of letting a two-goal lead slip in the first half.
He added: “We started very well, not only because we scored two goals, but the way we started the game was good.
“We dominated the game, had possession of the ball and had other chances to score.
“After conceding the two goals the team felt a little bit unbelievable in that moment, but we had the character in the second half to go again and score two goals.”
The City boss defended the performance of summer signing Mangala, who also conceded the penalty for a foul on Hernandez in addition to heading Liam Rosenior’s cross into his own net.
“He was very unlucky in the first goal,” said Pellegrini. “It was a difficult position to score, but he did.
“Maybe he felt he was not playing with the same trust. The penalty can happen, and the important thing as a team is we could fix it.”
