But the Manchester City boss hoped others would get due credit for an impressive team effort which saw Sunderland simply swept to one side at the Stadium of Light yesterday.

"There were some very good individual performances in what was an excellent team performance," he said.

"I know Shaun will get all the plaudits and perhaps rightly so because it's a fantastic story but I thought Jo Silva was excellent as well - a key player who helped make the changes in the system work.

"And there were a number of players who made the changes that we had to make in Martin Petrov's absence, work.

"We were calm in possession, we had good angles to our passing and played intelligently to give Sunderland problems all afternoon.

"Of course, we got the goals at the right time as well, which is always important when you are away from home.

"But the key to it was that we looked strong and energetic.

"It's always difficult when you come back from a game in Europe and have a game immediately after that, but we coped really well in that direction.

"It was an excellent performance from start to finish."

There was no getting away however from the fact that Wright-Phillips had made a fairytale return to his former club, and Hughes was not one for playing down the comeback of City's former golden boy.

He said: "I thought Shaun was excellent, not only with his goals but with his general play, and every time he had the ball he looked as though he would make things happen.

"He's a better player now in his second spell at City than he was first time around, so we're looking forward to reaping the benefits from that.

"He will bring a new element to our game and a new threat to opposition teams.

"I had wanted to get him straight back into the side and to play a big part in the game against Sunderland, but with Martin Petrov out my hand was forced.

"I thought Shaun would tire at the end because he hadn't had much football, and I brought him off to acknowledge the crowd because he did exceptionally well.

"But I think he would rather have stayed on, and I suppose I can understand that because he was enjoying his football.

"When you are not playing week-in, week-out you can have doubts about your own ability, but I never had any doubts that he would be a success. He'll go from strength to strength now I'm sure."

For City, there is the satisfaction now of having put an indifferent start to the season behind them.

Hughes reflected: "We've had a really good week - two back-to-back Premiership wins and we're still in Europe.

"Now we go away on a high and look forward to it because it's always a bit of a nightmare going into a two-week break having lost. This way we can go away feeling that we're on the up."

That's a luxury, denied to Sunderland.