Jimmy Bullard admits he now feels at home at Hull after finally emerging from a 10-month injury nightmare.
The £5million club record signing at last got his Tigers career up and running by making his long-awaited home debut in Sunday's dramatic 2-1 win over 10-man Stoke in the Barclays Premier League. And the 31-year-old's impact was immediate as he proved the driving force behind a result much needed by under-pressure manager Phil Brown.
Bullard, who has spent most of the year on the sidelines with a knee injury since joining the club in January, said: "I couldn't wait to get my boots on. I didn't sleep great, I kept waking up, but I finally got there and enjoyed every minute of it."
He added: "As soon as I set foot on the pitch I felt at home.
"I enjoyed it from setting foot on the field for the first warm-up. I loved it, to come out to that ovation.
"It's been a long time, it killed me, and being at a new club probably made it twice as hard.
"But I've come here to play football and I've done that. To step foot on that field was brilliant for me.
"I remember looking up about the 82nd-minute mark and I was flagging.
"I thought he [Brown] could have given me a tug then but I'm glad he didn't."
