Bruce's men looked poised to capitalise on the disharmony at Newcastle on Saturday as a bicycle kick from Nikica Jelavic and a long-range stunner from Mohamed Diame put Hull in command at St James' Park.
But against a backdrop of anger and protest from the home fans at Alan Pardew's continued reign as manager, Newcastle rallied late on and a brace from Papiss Cisse salvaged them a share of the spoils.
Bruce was left to rue what might have been.
"It feels like a loss. Unfortunately, we've made mistakes and got punished," he told the BBC.
"We've scored two wonderful goals which would have graced any arena. Apart from the mistakes we made late on, we looked a very good team.
"Individual errors are something you can never determine. Is it complacency? Tiredness? A mistake is a mistake and we've got punished.
"I have to say the Newcastle fans were magnificent and got behind their team.
"The crowd played their part in getting Newcastle back in the game. I don't think there will be any complaints about the crowd, they were magnificent today."
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