Archive for category: Match Reports

What a week we have had. A 6-1 mashing of Kidderminster, a hard-fought 1-0 win over Swansea to go first, and now a 5-1 demolition of Northampton to top the League by four clear points. These are enjoyable days to be a City fan.

Peter Taylor elected to field the same eleven that ground out the tough midweek victory against the Welsh, resisting the temptation to opt for a more defensive midfield by selecting Green ahead of Ashbee. We lined up: Musselwhite; Hinds, Whittle, Delaney, Dawson; Price, Green, Ashbee, Elliott; Allsopp, Burgess. Former Northampton player Forrester had to be content with a place on the substitute’s bench.

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Pathetic. Appalling. Inexcusable. Disgraceful. Unforgivable.

It somehow seems apt to kick off this match report with a few adjectives to describe just what happened at Boothferry Park on January 15th 2002. Because what follows is as grim and depressing as anything the Tiger Nation has had to endure during a bleak decade of following Hull City.

Today, Hull City surrendered their year-long unbeaten home record to a team lying 23rd in the league, without an away win in seven months. Sound bad? There’s more to follow.

Brian Little made the latest in a long line of inexplicable team changes, yet again dropping our best player of the season, Lawrie Dudfield. City at least lined up with a 4-4-2, replacing the idiotic 5-3-2 which guaranteed defeat at Plymouth. Musselwhite; Petty, Edwards, Whittle, Wicks; Whitmore, Sneekes, Beresford, Matthews; Rowe and Alexander was the team. And boy, did they fail. But before launching into a full examination of our failings, a brief synopsis of the match.

City came out, and performed a Celtic-style huddle before the game. It seemed to briefly work, as they immediately took the upper hand, taking total control and fashioning several half-chances. Then after 9 minutes Carlisle got a free-kick on their right and whipped the ball in. Some pathetically poor defending allowed the ball to continue across it’s path across the area, where a completely unmarked Foran neatly tucked it away. The next five minutes saw a vaguely spirited response; the rest of the game was an insult to the 8,526 who had paid good money to watch City.

That’s the match report done, for neither team created any chances of note during the remainder of the game. Even a desperate treble-substitution made sod-all difference. So, having dispensed with the formalities, let’s examine how City fared.

Fucking terrible. They were booed off at half-time, and the full-time reaction was as hostile as anything seen at Boothferry Park in the last ten years. A total absence of passion was primarily at fault. Barring Mike Edwards and Paul Musselwhite, every single player on the pitch was guilty of personal and professional cowardice. Passes were constantly astray, players were failing to meet the ball, the simplest of tackles were shirked, the easiest of tasks repeatedly fucked up by a team that simply did not give a shit.

No doubt Little will defend his players in the press, saying how they tried their hardest and had most of the ball. Well, that’s bollocks. Total shite. Every time City had a decent chance to create anything the players bottled it. It was witless, clueless, passionless – Dolan would have been proud.

The positives? It was only 1-0. Musselwhite pulled of a great save to deny a one-on-one chance midway through the second half, while Edwards made an impressive return to the side, looking eager for the ball and actually appearing to want to win. Everyone else, take note.

The negatives? Too many to mention. The crowd, restless and quite understandably livid as the game progressed, numbered just 8,526. How many of those will return for the home match against Exeter on Saturday is anyone’s guess. If more than 8,000 appear, it’ll be a surprise. Adam Pearson, presumably as furious as anyone by the abject display, held his head in his hands as the attendance was read out. We need to attract more fans, yet spineless shows like that are simply going to drive away the casual supporter. £13 to watch that shower of shite? No chance.

Once Carlisle had scored, against the run of play, the game was up. City had neither the intelligence nor the sheer willpower to reverse the deficit. Almost to a man, they gave up. I have seen many dismal performances watching City over the past ten years or so. The 1-0 defeat at Doncaster remains the worse; the 1-0 home defeat to Kettering in the Cup last season takes second place. The defeat against Carlisle challenged, if not superceded, both games. We were THAT bad. Even the worst of the Dolan years were superior fare to that. City reached a new low against Carlisle, a miserable feeling we thought we’d never experience again.

So, what to do? Simple. Several players should be dropped, with immediate and lasting effect. Matthews, Beresford, Petty and Whitmore were clueless. None should play for City on Saturday. Why the fuck was Dudfield on the bench? He’s been our best player this season – quite why Little dropped him is something only he can fathom. Gary Bradshaw and Matt Bloomer should both be played on Saturday. Both have impressed in the reserves, both appear to show pride in the amber and black shirt they wear.

The second half was pure torture for every single City fan in the ground. Christ only knows what Little said at half-time, but he utterly failed to motivate his side to do anything about the situation they found themselves in. If he cannot get this expensively-assembled side to perform, then he should step aside for someone who can. It was THAT bad. Questioning the manager is not something we do lightly, but such a dereliction of duty by his players merits a severe examination of the state Hull City AFC are in. We never looked remotely like scoring, Beresford in particular wasting possession time after time.

Full-time finally arrived, and the team was subjected to a show of disgust not seen since Hateley’s days. Today, Hull City hit a low point not seen in several years. Urgent action is needed to rescue the season, before even the play-offs are out of reach. Pearson has invested countless thousands into giving us a team we can be proud of. Currently, the manager and particularly the players are betraying his and our faith. If their contracts allowed it, Pearson should fine each and every player a month’s wages, with the proceeds going towards a local charity. Sadly, they’ll no doubt get away with it, which is a travesty. If any of the players are reading this, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Quite how you can look yourselves in the mirror is beyond me. Travelling 700 miles to watch the surrender at Plymouth is bad enough – watching it on our own doorstep against the likes of Carlisle is simply taking the piss. Do the decent thing, and give away your wages, because you’ve not earned them this month. You are not fit to wear those shirts.

Oh shit. Now, apologies for kicking off things with an expletive, but it’s apt – after all, there were enough of them knocking around the away end at Aggborough yesterday. Let’s be honest – this was unforgivable, inexcusable, complete shite. Our club suffered deep shame and embarrassment, brought about by the contemptible showings of the professional footballers employed by Hull City AFC. The following is more a rant than a match report.
Despite consulting a dictionary and a thesaurus, no words exist to adequately describe what happened at Kidderminster. Not even the naughtiest swear words do it justice. Playing badly is one thing; hoisting a white flag and allowing an average Third Division side to take the piss is another.

Committing unmentionable crimes against Hull City’s ever-loyal support were Musselwhite; Holt, Mohan, Goodison, Holt; Sneekes, Johnsson, Greaves, Whitmore, Beresford and Alexander. Of those eleven, Sneekes and Musselwhite emerge with credit. Beresford, Matthews and Dudfield need feel no real shame. The rest ought to be fined a month’s wages, with the proceeds spread around every single person who shelled out to watch that disgrace. Nicky Mohan should simply be sacked, preferably in the centre-circle at the next home game by Brian Little in front of the entire crowd.

Yet the opening minutes gave little indication of what was about to happen. City, playing an absurd and hopelessly ineffectual 4-5-1 formation, had the better of the early play, pushing on well and not allowing Kidderminster to settle on the ball. Greaves, making a return from the serious injury he sustained in the home match against Kiddy in August, harried in midfield, although he didn’t look match-fit and faded badly as the half wore on. Sneekes darted around industriously, the only player willing to tackle, and the only one to understand the not-too-complicated concept of passing the ball to a team-mate. Goodison, captain for the day, was doing plenty of shouting and not much defending. City did fashion an early chance when Alexander scooted away down the right, but his cross to Johnsson was intercepted before our whaling hero could shoot. Sneekes also flashed a shot from distance wide, but the warning signs were becoming ominously clear.

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Despite not being at their best, City edged past Leyton Orient at a packed and sun drenched Ark to give them a great chance of reaching the play off final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff later this month. A near-capacity crowd of 13310 witnessed a tightly fought semi final first leg between two teams with solid defences.

Ian Goodison, John Whitney, Rob Matthews, Kevin Francis and Gary Brabin returned to the starting eleven having been rested for our final league game at Carlisle. John Eyre, who missed training with back spasms in midweek started on the bench.

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City tumbled out of the FA Cup in the first round, beaten 1-0 at home by the bottom club in the Nationwide Conference. The only goal of a dire game came from Matt Fisher in the 57th minute, after being allowed the freedom of Boothferry Park (and most of the surrounding district, had he asked) to fire past Paul Musselwhite from 20 yards. The goal was typical our City’s performance – feeble, lazy and totally unacceptable. In truth, City had had marginally the better of a dour first half. A 35 yard effort from Brabin early on tested Bowling in the Kettering goal, while Greaves wasted a one-on-one after nice play from Philpott. Musselwhite caused a scare after going walkabout outside his area, but Goodison was on hand to mop up the danger in the area. Soon after, the Tigers keeper was forced into an excellent save to deny Robert Codner from 30 yards. As half-time approached, City continued to push, with Eyre forcing a neat save from the visitors’ chubby goaltender, and Goodison heading narrowly wide after an excellent Philpott corner. However, the best chance of the half was the final chance. A City corner was only half-cleared, and the ball fell invitingly for Brown fifteen yards from goal, but he snatched at the ball, and screwed it well wide.

The second half began poorly for City, with Musselwhite having to be alert to foil a one-on-one chance for Hudson. At the other end, Eyre had a half-chance with a header from seven yards, but could only nod the ball over. City were increasingly being forced back though, and on 57 minutes disaster struck. Some wretched defending enabled Matt Fisher a clear sight of goal, and from 20 yards he lashed the ball past the isolated Musselwhite, to the unrestrained glee of the 200 Poppies fans. It wasn’t getting any better, as the crowd justifiably vented their frustration as yet another throw-in to City was squandered. That led to Brabin appearing to remonstrate with the Kempton as its patrons derided the lack of effort, though perhaps the player was having a go at himself, or his team mates. He had better have been – we paid to watch that, and any criticism aimed at the team was fully warranted. Back on the pitch, and things were becoming increasingly grim. Edwards took a free-kick 45 yards from goal, but somehow punted the ball into the mocking band of Kettering fans, as opposed to the penalty area.

Whitmore was thrown in, though he was clearly unfit, limping after three minutes. Despite the handicap of his groin injury, he briefly invigorated his team mates, and City came close when a superbly cushioned header by Brown gave Brabin a clear sight of goal, but his header flashed wide with the goal at his mercy. The final fifteen minutes were a numbing torture, as Whitmore faded from view, City’s players continued to show the same witlessness and deplorable lack of effort, while the City fans exasperation escalated. With a minute left on the clock, Brown provided Greaves a golden chance from 20 yards with only the keeper to beat…and he cleared the North Stand. Quite a fitting way to end a utterly disgraceful evening.

Particular criticism can be levelled at Harper, Eyre, Brabin and Philpott. If they have any decency, they will hand back their wages for this week to the club. Brown tried, but resorted to falling over for free-kicks, so poor was the support he received. Brightwell defended well, but wasted too many free-kicks up front. Musselwhite cannot be blamed, Perry was adequate, Edwards hapless out of position, Greaves ineffectual and Goodison isolated at the back, and relied upon up front. It was a humbling night for all. If City are to avoid a pasting at Scunthorpe on Saturday, changes must be made.