Manchester City manager Mark Hughes and his England midfield star Gareth Barry have come out in support of South African soccer fans blowing their vuvuzelas.

Manchester City manager Mark Hughes and his England midfield star Gareth Barry have come out in support of South African soccer fans blowing their vuvuzelas.

Speaking after beating Kaizer Chiefs 1-0 in Durban on Tuesday night in their second match of the Vodacom Challenge series, Hughes said he had no problem with the vuvuzela.

In fact the City boss liked it, saying: "The atmosphere created by the local fans in both our games played in South Africa so far has been fantastic. The whatever you call them (vuvuzelas) add to the passion of the game here. It is a unique sound. I said before we came to play in South Africa I was expecting plenty of passion from the fans, win or lose, and I was dead right."

Barry, who was signed by Hughes from Aston Villa for about R225million recently, agreed with his manager.

"What I and the other players really enjoyed was the noise and passion created by the fans," he said.

"Sometime when teams play in friendly matches in the pre-season they are flat because the crowd does not respond. What I have experienced here is the opposite.

"The crowd here have been a different class and we look forward to a brilliant final where we want the crowd to make as much noise as possible."

Players and foreign media were highly critical of the vuvuzela during last month's Confederations Cup but Fifa president Sepp Blatter has been a staunch defender of the instrument. - Sapa