MARK Hughes saluted the way Ryan East handled the “pressure” of his first league start for four months.

The City boss praised the midfielder’s display in the Valley Parade draw with Mansfield.

East, who came in for captain Richie Smallwood, had not started in the league since the win at Salford in October.

Stand-in skipper Alex Gilliead got the man-of-the-match plaudits but Hughes was also delighted with East’s response.

“Ryan has been really unlucky,” he said. “He hasn’t been able to dislodge Gilly and Richie.

“Obviously we brought Adam (Clayton) in as well, so he probably felt he was under even more pressure.

“But I’ve got great respect for Easty. He’s a really nice footballer, technically very good.

“I just felt with him in there he could give that control we were lacking because Richie wasn’t playing.”

With Smallwood unavailable because of a family matter, Hughes felt Adam Clayton also took on more responsibility on his home debut.

“I think everybody saw what kind of player he is. He will give us more leadership once again.

“We’re building that leadership group in the side at the moment and we’ve added to that element.

“We’re pleased where that’s going and that will improve and grow as the games come.

“We were getting more bodies around where the ball was dropping.

“On occasions teams will get out if we don’t lock people in. They did it a couple of times but for the most part we were close, competing and making it difficult for them.”

Mansfield’s late equaliser prevented City moving back into the play-off places - instead they dropped down a place to ninth in the congested League Two table.

Hughes admitted they needed to show more “guile and creativity” to create better chances when they were in front.

Andy Cook scored on his first start for six games and showed no ill-effects from his recent broken nose.

Hughes added: “I thought it was time to bring him back but I just needed to be sure.

“Once again, he scored with a fantastic header. He had to put a lot of power on it himself.

“Clearly, he’ll always be awkward for the opposition and he took one chance and created another good opportunity himself. He’ll be pleased with his performance.

“It wasn’t as if I hadn’t told Andy about the reasons why (he had not been starting).

“It was clearly just to refresh him and get him ready to come back and have a real impact for us. That’s exactly what I wanted from him.”