Hughes assures Sturridge over City future

Manchester City manager Mark Hughes vowed to secure the long-term services of Daniel Sturridge after the teenage substitute inspired a late fightback to seal a 2-2 draw at Blackburn Rovers.

Hughes, back at Ewood Park for the first time since leaving Rovers for City in June, saw his team staring at an eleventh defeat in 20 league games as goals from South Africa striker Benni McCarthy and Jason Roberts gave Sam Allardyce's team a 2-0 lead here Sunday.

But Sturridge — a 71st minute substitute — almost single-handedly salvaged a point for City by scoring with an 88th minute volley before setting-up an equaliser for Brazil star Robinho in the fourth minute of stoppage-time.

The 19-year-old forward is out of contract at the end of the season but, despite high-profile stars such as Michael Owen, Jermain Defoe and Roque Santa Cruz being linked with City in the January transfer window, Hughes insisted youth-team graduate Sturridge has a big future at Eastlands.

“I was delighted with Daniel. I had hoped he would make a positive impact. We asked him to make things happen and he certainly did that,” said Hughes.

“We want to bring good players into the club, but we can create the sort of environment where he can thrive. We have tried to introduce him bit-by-bit, but we want to keep him at this club.

“I think we're very close to agreeing a new deal with him. He has been allowed to get into the last year of his contract, but that was allowed to happen before I came here.

“That puts the player in a position of power, not the club.”

Hughes continues to be linked with a move for Blackburn's 18 million pounds-rated (26.37 million dollars) Paraguay striker Santa Cruz, but Rovers boss Allardyce insisted no decision had been made on the future of the forward, who missed this clash with a calf strain.

“We will get it sorted one way or another,” said Allardyce. “But when we do, it will be somebody else after this player or somebody else after that player. This transfer window is a nightmare for managers.”

Allardyce, who took charge three game ago after Rovers sacked Paul Ince, said his team had suffered for a lack of assurance late on.

“It feels like a defeat because you expect to win a game if you play so well for 90 minutes. When you are 2-0 up with minutes to go, you should be able to see the game out, but we paid a heavy price.

“We had nine men behind the ball, yet didn't have a soul near Robinho when the ball was played to him. It was a good finish, but the ball just dropped to him and we should have defended it better.

“We should have had three wins from my three games, but instead that's four points we have given away in the last two games and that's massive for a team in our situation,” added Allardyce.

“All that was missing today (Sunday) was a bit of composure in the final minutes, but you make more mistakes when you are tired. We didn't get what we deserved but that sometimes happens.”