MATCH ANALYSIS & VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: Hull City 1 Blackburn Rovers 1

The Hull boss was so desperate to sign Jordan Rhodes last summer that he was willing to part with £10m of his club’s cash and throw his defender son Alex into the deal too.

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So there was sense of beautiful inevitability when Rhodes, facing the Tigers for the first time since then, headed home a 91st-minute equaliser to send the 879 travelling supporters into rapture.

“He does what he does,” sighed Bruce after watching the master poacher mark his 150th appearance for Rovers with his fifth goal in his last four games.

Outside of the Premier League, no-one does it better.

But while Rhodes’ innate ability to make space in even the most crowded of boxes came as no surprise to Bruce, neither did he argue that a point was all his high-flying side deserved.

Well-drilled and well-organised Rovers had been comfortable until yet another big refereeing call went against them in the 73rd minute.

With Andy Haines failing to spot that Rhodes had been fouled by the already booked Curtis Davies when through on goal, Hull raced away to open the scoring through Abel Hernandez.

The Uruguayan was the striker Bruce turned to after Rovers owners Venky’s made it clear that their star man was not for sale at any price.

Thirteen months on and their steadfast refusal to cash in on Rhodes continues to be justified.

Without his last-gasp strike Rovers would have gone into their final fixture before the international break fourth from bottom.

Instead they will welcome Rhodes’ former club Ipswich Town to Ewood Park this weekend on the back of an unbeaten run that now stands at three matches.

It is true that they remain too close to the relegation places for comfort after winning just one of their opening nine league games.

But it also true that, since that torrid opening half-hour at Craven Cottage, performances and, crucially, results, have unquestionably improved. Momentum and confidence is building.

Yes Rovers were not as creative here as they had been in their previous three outings.

But, against a Tigers team who had won five and drawn one of their previous six home matches, this nevertheless was an excellent point to follow the one gained at QPR and the three achieved at home to Charlton.

Not that Rovers were negative. With Tom Lawrence constantly finding pockets of space in his free role behind Rhodes, they tried to take the game to their opponents in the first half.

But the longer the match wore on the clearer it became that their best bet for a goal was going to come from a set-piece.

And when you have got as good a deliverer of a ball as Craig Conway in your ranks then you are always going to have a chance.

No player has carved out more opportunities in the Championship this season than Rovers’ irrepressible winger and it was from his near-post corner that Rhodes rose to nod in his 79th goal for the club.

It is an impressive record and, so too, is the fact that Conway has now contributed 25 assists in 71 appearances for Rovers.

It makes you wonder what more the duo can do to win their places back in Gordon Strachan’s Scotland squad.

More pressing for Rovers boss Gary Bowyer, however, is exactly when his side are going to get the rub of the green from the officials.

Apart from a first-half shot from Hernandez, which Jason Steele palmed away at his near post, Hull failed to threaten until Haines ruled that Davies had not pushed Rhodes.

It was a decision every bit as bad as the one that allowed Wolves’ handball winner on the opening day of the campaign to stand and the one that deemed that Grant Hanley had not equalised at Fulham when replays proved his effort had crossed the line.

After Hernandez turned in Ahmed Elmohamady’s cross, the Tigers suddenly had the bit between their teeth and Shaun Maloney should have settled the contest.

Maloney was made to pay by Rhodes who, having earlier seen a header saved by Allan McGregor, made no mistake at the second time of asking.

Both teams then had chances to win it, McGregor saving superbly from substitute Hope Akpan after another Conway corner broke to him, before Davies headed wide with the goal at his mercy.