Hull City boss Phil Brown admits his side's dramatic 2-1 win over Stoke at the KC Stadium last weekend has eased the pressure on himself and raised the players' confidence.

Brown was under enormous pressure going into the clash agianst the Potters with the media speculating that the game would be his last were the Tigers to suffer yet another defeat - having won only three of their previous 33.

New Hull City chairman Adam Pearson hardly helped matters in the days leading up to game by admitting he would consider Brown's position were results to go against the side.

"How secure is the manager? That's a tricky one, I think if we don't get results then that security goes down," Pearson had said.

"Phil knows that, it's the business we're in. It's been a difficult year and we need to achieve results quickly."

In the end however, goals from Seyi Olofinjana and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink cancelled out Matthew Etherington's opener move the Tigers out of the bottom three.

Brown took his rejuvenated side to Italy on Thursday to play a friendly with Serie A side Atalanta, in a game which finished 2-2, and is hopeful that his players' carry their new found self belief into their clash with West Ham next weekend.

"I think less pressure but more confidence where the players are concerned," he is quoted as saying on skysports.com.

"When you ask the players to play football you have to play with confidence and today we have seen a little more confidence.

"Hopefully we can carry that into the West Ham game."