Bullard, back after a serious knee injury, has scored two stunning free-kicks to snatch maximum points against Aston Villa and a point at Blackburn Rovers.

Hodgson told the club's official website: "He's scored two very important goals.

"I think he's getting better all the time. We have to keep on at him about his discipline on the pitch and the way we like him to play but all credit to him, he's working at that.

"As a coach you can only be happy when a player steps up at such an important time and produces such a wonderful free-kick."

On his side's draw with Blackburn, Hodgson said: "I thought we created a lot of chances and that's very positive because Blackburn are not a team that concede a lot of goals and are not an easy team to create chances against.

"As always, the shot or the last pass wasn't quite right but that's football. We need to sharpen up in that area and the players are working very hard at it.

"I've got to be very pleased with our performance even though one point when you're at the bottom of the table isn't that useful to you."

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