Jay-Jay’s time at Hull never really worked in the manner God intended, but there is a very good reason why we should forgive Him, and not just because it’s the Christian thing to do. For it was God who brought Stuart Elliott to Hull City, and without the Ulsterman, we might still be languishing in the lower leagues.

Stuart Elliott was born in a Troubles-ridden Belfast in 1978. While his religious beliefs weren’t to develop for a few years, his love of football was apparent from an early age as Stuart spent his formative years playing for youth teams down the city’s infamous Shankhill Road.

Despite a few early rejections (due to his lack of height) Stuart progressed to the Glentoran first team, while continuing with his day job as a window cleaner. His goalscoring form for Glentoran soon attracted the attention of scouts from the UK mainland, and before long Stuart was on his way to Motherwell for a fee of £100,000.

The move to Motherwell was no coincidence. Elliott had found God in his late teens, and belonged to a denomination that had three churches in the world: one in Belfast, one in Motherwell, and one in Hull…

Despite an early struggle to settle in Scotland, Stuart soon became a huge favourite with the Fir Park faithful, and the freescoring wing play of Elliott and Stephen Pearson briefly made Terry Butcher look like a talented manager. However, financial difficulties in 2002 forced Motherwell to sell their better players for well below value, and Hull City and Jan Molby made their move with a cheque heading to Edinburgh for £230,000. Despairing Motherwell fans couldn’t believe Elliott had gone for less than £1m. The fact that he’d gone to a club in England’s bottom-tier only added to their misery. For such a prized asset in the SPL to join a League 2 team was quite a coup, and it soon transpired that Stuart’s decision to relocate to East Yorkshire had more to do with Hull’s religious offerings than any desire he had to play alongside Greg Strong and Shaun Smith. Would Elliott have come to City if his faith hadn’t led him here? God knows.

Sorry.

Jan Molby’s tenure at City was an unmitigated disaster, but in his brief spell he attracted three players that were to be integral to our two promotions: Stuart Green, Ian Ashbee and, of course, Elliott. While injury blighted much of Stuart’s first season with the Tigers, and the manager who had signed him was sacked after a handful of games, City fans were justifiably excited by what they had seen. Elliott’s pace was what you’d expect from a winger, but his finishing prowess, positional play and his ability to find space in the opponent’s penalty area. Most impressive of all though, was the gravity-defying manner in which he could seemingly float, therefore rarely losing a header. The Boothferry Park faithful were won over from an early stage.

A goal on debut against Southend in the first game of the 2002/03 season settled Stuart into his new surroundings nicely. A dazzling second-half display at Bristol Rovers as 10-man City came back to claim an unlikely 1-1 draw whetted the appetite further. Then, as a run of injuries kicked in, Elliott was in and out of the side for the rest of 2002, but he did provide the only memorable thing about the final game at Boothferry Park, coming on as an early substitute and tormenting the Darlington defence in an otherwise tame 1-0 defeat. The season petered out as Molby’s replacement, Peter Taylor, got to know his squad, but Elliott finished the season with 12 goals as his new manager tried to work out if the Ulsterman would work better as a left winger or a striker.

The answer, quite emphatically, was a left-winger, as Stuart would show in some style over the next two years. The 2003/04 promotion year saw a front four of Elliott on the left, Jason Price on the right, and Danny Allsopp and Ben Burgess up front. As City stormed to promotion, that quartet finished with 14, 10, 15 and 18 goals, respectively; the first time since 1966 that four City players had passed double figures in the league (Waggy, Chillo, Houghton, Butler and Henderson, if you’re interested).

City’s threat down the flanks was vital to the team’s success. While Price’s hat-trick against Doncaster over Christmas was probably the most memorable such contribution, Elliott’s goals were also to prove priceless. His quite brilliant header in the home game against Swansea, the first watershed game at the KC, saw us beat the then league leaders 1-0. A late equaliser, finished with what previous generations would describe as ‘aplomb’, saw us snatch a late, ill-deserved equaliser against Torquay and keep the unbeaten run going that was to the foundation for the season’s success. A goal in a 1-1 draw at Scunny, a brace at home to Cambridge in a 2-0 win and the winner in a 1-0 win at Darlington over December and January emphasised Elliott’s value to the team as we inched towards our first promotion in 19 years.

Fourteen goals in a season is quite a benchmark to set for a winger. When stepping up a level, Stuart would maybe have had his eyes on getting into double figures during the 2004/05 season in League 1. However, with an Burgess sitting the season out and Allsopp running out of form, Taylor was to move to pull off the incredible signing of another forward that would revolutionise Elliott’s role within the team. Local hero Nick Barmby signed for City, and League 1’s defences had no idea what was about to hit them.

When discussing Stuart Elliott, City fans will generally start a conversation with, “Well we wouldn’t have got to the Championship without him”. And so they should. Because it’s true. Without his incredible tally of 29 goals that season, 27 of them in the league, we’d have struggled to make the play-offs. True, others contributed massively to that season’s success, notably Leon Cort, but Elliott’s goalscoring, effectively from midfield, was the difference between us and the likes of Tranmere, Sheffield Wednesday and Brentford.

But before going through Elliott’s annus mirabilis, it is worth dwelling on the contribution to Stuart’s cause of Nick Barmby. Regardless of who was playing as City’s main centre-forward that season, and duties were shared between Allsopp, Aaron Wilbraham, Jon Walters, Delroy Facey and Craig Fagan, Taylor struck gold with a defence-shredding tactic. Elliott liked to press on past his full-back; Barmby liked to drop deep and dictate play from the gap between the opposition’s defence and midfield. It was as simple as that. Given Stuart’s finishing and aerial ability, so many City goals started with the ball finding a deep-lying Barmby and ended with a cross being swung over to the left where Stuart would escape or outjump his marker and inevitably score. In only the second game of the season, a 3-0 away win at Torquay in which Elliott scored twice, the bewildered opposition manager, Leroy Rosenior, commented how he couldn’t see City failing to score all season.

Elliott netted four times before the end of August: two against Torquay, a late strike which looked as though it would clinch City a point in an exhilarating 3-2 defeat at Port Vale, and a thumping header from an Andy Dawson corner in a memorable 2-1 away win at newly relegated Barnsley. September brought four more; one at home to Blackpool to help us to a 2-1 win, a brace away to Peterborough in a 3-2 win and strike away at Hartlepool in the LDV Vans Trophy.

You’re probably already noticing how many of these strikes come in games that we would win by the odd goal. Stuart seemed to have a nice habit of doing that. With City already handily placed in the league table, only denied top spot by Luton’s incredible start to the season, the Tigers were then to go on a run that would see them lose just once between mid-October and early January, and during this time play some of the most impressive football ever, and I mean ever, seen in a black and amber shirt.

Hard-of-thinking revisionists who deride Peter Taylor as a defensive manager would do well to remember this. Of course, Elliott was to play a vital part in this run, a run which could only be curtailed by the bony end of a cowardly West Yorkshire elbow. Form during this two-and-a-half-month spell was beyond anything seen in a City shirt for a long, long time. In terms of goalscoring, only Deano, Andy Payton and Keith Edwards had really come close to showing such prolificacy in front of goal in the previous 30 years, all from a centre-forward position. Fifteen goals in 13 games led our charge to the top of League One, and planted a foundation that meant we would not drop out of the top two for the rest of the season. So, starting with the first of those 13 games, Elliott scored twice as we beat leaders Luton 3-0 at the KC. The first a cross-shot that swirled into the top corner, the second a close range volley. Elliott was goalless in the 2-2 away draw at Wrexham, but found the net once more with a deflected shot at the KC as Walsall were soundly beaten 3-1.

After beating Morecambe 3-2 in the FA Cup, a journey to a snowy Swindon saw City on the receiving end of their only defeat of this spell, Elliott scoring a last-minute consolation in a 4-2 defeat. Better was to follow though. Play-off chasing Brentford were beaten 2-0 at the KC, with Elliott scoring both. The first followed an excellent passing display from the Tigers, which Elliott rounded off by rising to head home a Marc Joseph cross. The second was a piece of individual brilliance; a 30-yard volley that had Chris Kamara comparing Elliott to Steven Gerrard when awarding him the Sky player of the month award. Elliott was top of the goalscoring tables and City were applying pressure on Luton at the top of League 1. Our only worry would be whether we’d be able to keep hold of the freescoring Ulsterman.

We did, and he kept on scoring. Elliott’s next was in the FA Cup as we beat Macclesfield 4-0. We didn’t need Stuart to score as we hammered Sheffield Wednesday 4-2 at Hillsbrough, but Elliott played a full part in one of City’s finest performances in living memory. He did score in City’s next away game four days later though, a skidding volley that flew underneath Aidan Davidson as Colchester were put to the sword in a comfortable 2-1 victory. Third-placed Tranmere were up next. Elliott scored his only hat-trick for City, and concussed substitute keeper Russell Howarth, meaning Tranmere fielded former Tiger Theo Whitmore in goal for the second half. City won 6-1. A Boxing Day trip to Blackpool is never the warmest of prospects, but Elliott had other ideas. A 2-0 win ensued, with Elliott scoring twice – first with a low shot after out-pacing the Tangerines’ defence, and second with rocket after out-pacing the Tangerines’ defence.

You’ll all have a favourite Stuart Elliott memory. For most of you it will be, understandably, that winner against QPR. For some it will be the goal at Wigan. Or perhaps the lob against Plymouth. For me, however, there is no competition. At about 9.25pm on Tuesday 28th December, 2004, Stuart Elliott cemented his name as one of the all-time Hull City greats. Older heads may chunter about Waggy and Chillo, cynics may sneer about his lack of goals in the Championship, but anyone who witnessed this incredible season close at hand will not deny Stuart such an accolade. Any one of the 20,000 or so City fans at the KC that night will be shouting it from the rooftops. Doncaster, more of an irritant than a bona fide rival, had come to the KC and were drawing 1-1. The visitors had been applying most of the pressure in the second half, but had come up against an inspired Bo Myhill. The usual Doncaster tactic of playing like scum bastards had reared its ugly head in the 80th minute when McSporran clattered Barmby and then bravely had a kick at him while he was on the ground. Barmby retaliated and both saw red. Donny still looked the most likely to score when on 85 City hoofed clear a corner. The ball was sailing harmlessly to Donny’s right-back and there seemed to be no danger of anything happening. However, Elliott saw things differently. The right-back made a hash of things and the ball sailed over his head. Elliott sailed past the hapless defender and advanced into the Donny half. In his way were a Doncaster centre half and goalkeeper. Elliott coolly skipped past the lumbering defender and slotted the ball under keeper Warrington. The KC exploded as Elliott cartwheeled away. It was a thing of beauty. Total, utter, unadulterated beauty. Then as Doncaster sought another equaliser, McIndoe waltzed into the Hull City penalty area. He got as far as the penalty spot and drew back his foot, an unmissable goal awaiting him. However, a defending foot got in and blocked the winger’s shot. That foot belonged to Stuart Elliott. You’d already guessed that, hadn’t you? Some people will tell you that Stuart Elliott didn’t do defending. While it was by no means his strongest suit, he did his fair share.

That was to be the last 90 minutes Elliott would complete for a couple of months. Our next game, against Huddersfield, saw City win 2-1, and Elliott had done his duty by slotting home an equaliser a couple of minutes after the Terriers had taken a fortuitous lead. A winner coming from the unlikely combination of Stev Angus and Aaron Wilbraham sealed the victory, but late in the second half, as City were defending a corner, Elliott was left motionless on the ground and stretchered off. He’d broken a cheekbone, after his head had unwisely made contact with Efe Sodje’s elbow. Sodje’s career seems to be littered with unsavoury incidents, and thanks to this act, we were robbed of Elliott’s presence for six weeks, just when he was at his peak.

Considering the booing Paul Rachubka has received when playing City after his challenge that crocked Ben Burgess, a challenge that was clumsy but in no way malicious, I’ve always been disappointed at the relatively easy time Efe Sodje has been given by the City faithful since that day. A cynic would suggest that Sodje’s elbow was deliberate and targeted, by a player that has a history of thuggish on-pitch behaviour. I consider myself a cynic. Apparently many the then City players and Adam Pearson consider themselves to be too.

Elliott was ruled out for the best part of two months, and City’s promotion charge became more of an amble. After a 3-1 win at Stockport on January 3, City failed to win in their next six Elliottless games, and – a colossal 3-1 win at third-placed Tranmere aside – it was only when Elliott returned that City regained their swagger.

On his first game back in a 1-0 home win against Hartlepool, Elliott scored a rebound after his own penalty was saved. He scored from the spot a few days later in a 2-0 home win against Torquay. Then came the game where City fans finally started to believe that promotion was more of a likelihood than a possibility, a 4-0 win at Bournemouth on a sunny spring day. Elliott scored twice as Bournemouth – then in the play-off places – were torn apart. Stuart then went on to score again in the game that would effectively seal Championship status at the first time of asking in a 2-0 win at Bradford in April. He would score only once more during the season, a penalty in a home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday, leaving him one short of the 30 mark and level as the division’s top scorer with a certain Dean Windass. Championship here we come…

There seems to be a general consensus that Stuart Elliott didn’t cut it in the Championship. And there is good reason for this. His goal tally has decreased and his appearances have been sporadic. An asthmatic-type condition hasn’t helped either. But to write off Elliott’s time with City in the Championship would be foolish. His seven goals in our first season back in the second tier, a season largely interrupted by injury and a glimmer of good form from Kevin Ellison, was a good return, and included a terrific lob in a 1-0 win at Plymouth to give us our first away win of the season, after Marc Joseph had been sent off. He finished our top scorer that season. Ask any wide player in the division at the start of a season if they’ll be happy with seven goals come May and the vast majority will reply in the affirmative. But ultimately, the start of Barmby’s injury problems and the increase in standard of the defenders he was facing meant that Stuart was, for the first time since his move from Motherwell, not an automatic first choice.

Elliott was a first choice, however, for Northern Ireland. And in September 2005, Stuart played a full part in his country’s biggest win since qualification for the 1986 World Cup when England were beaten 1-0 at Windsor Park. Elliott, like the rest of his team-mates, worked his socks off in a game that the Ulstermen thoroughly deserved to win. A year previously he’d scored a last-minute equaliser at Windsor Park as Northern Ireland came back to tie 3-3 against Austria. In the game before the England victory he scored with a 25-yard free-kick – an under-rated aspect of his game – in a 2-0 home win against Azerbaijan. His international record stands at 31 caps and four goals, and is likely to stay this way, given Chris Brunt’s emergence.

Taylor departed and Phil Parkinson arrived in the 2006/07 season, and Elliott started in Parkinson’s first game, away at West Brom. Stuart was, frankly, abysmal that day, as the newly relegated Baggies tore through City in the first half. Elliott seemed to be on a different planet, and was merciful taken off by Parkinson at the earliest available opportunity. Elliott was to retain his place in the team for a short while until injury meant he was spared the horrors of City’s start to that particular season. As news of Elliott’s asthmatic problems spread, many wondered if we’d see him in a City shirt again. However, within a week of the news breaking, Elliott allayed such fears with a return to the team and a return to form during a mini-spell in which it looked as though Parkinson might be able to make a go of things at City. A thumping free-kick in a memorable 3-2 win at bottom-of-the-table Southend followed by a trademark late-run-into-the-box goal in a 2-0 win at home to Wolves reminded us that Elliott still had a role to play with City. Sadly, we were to only see him score four more goals in the amber and black.

Half of that tally, however, could possibly be viewed as Elliott’s most telling contribution to the Tigers’ cause. In January 2007, City were still in dire relegation trouble, despite a handful of wins as the Tigers improved under Phil Brown. QPR were also in relegation trouble, and the match at the KC was the archetypal six-pointer. QPR were evil that day. Pure evil. Their special brand of diving, feigning injury, time-wasting, haranguing the referee and general thuggery was football at its worst. Sadly, with five minutes to go they were 1-0 up. Scum. Utter scum. Defeat would have been a bitter blow that we may not have recovered from, but it was something that we didn’t have to worry about thanks to goals in the 85th and 90th minute from Elliott, who came on as a sub in the 80th minute. Of all the goals he scored for Hull City – and let’s not forget how vital some of them were – none would come near to this brace. In the fight against relegation, many players made important contributions and scored important goals but Deano’s goal against Cardiff aside, nothing matched Stuart’s double that day, in terms of importance or sheer jubilation. Elliott was a peripheral figure for the rest of the season, scoring only once more in the last game of the season, when relegation had been successfully avoided. He’d done his bit in helping stave off the threat of a return to League 1, though.

Elliott’s final contribution of note in a City shirt was scoring a typically spectacular volley in a 1-0 away win at Wigan in the League Cup, the first time we’d beaten a top-flight team away from home since victory at Coventry in 1972. It is sad that Elliott was pushed out, and rumours that Phil Brown made Stuart train with the juniors in the final weeks of his time at City are hopefully just that. It would be no way to treat such a legend. Many City fans will maintain that Elliott was worth a place in the 16, that his value as an impact sub was something that we lacked. Whether that was a romanticised notion, wanting to believe that a player whose contribution to the Tigers’ cause was unparalleled by all but a handful, isn’t something I’m prepared to go in to. I’d have sacked Allen Bagshawe and offered Stuart a job for life: chaplain, carol singer and a permanent role on the left wing in the reserves, teaching the juniors how to float. After a loan spell, Stuart made a permanent move to Doncaster, later turning out for Grimsby and back in Scotland ,Hamilton Academical and Stirling. His stats since leaving the Tigers suggest that his potency was significantly quelled by the exercise induced asthma. Still, those of us that had the pleasure of seeing Elliott at his peak have been privileged. His Hull City record finished with 68 goals in 211 games (166 starts). His stats for the 2004/05 season were 29 goals in 40 appearances. From the left wing, I remind you yet again.

True to type, Elliott  this week announced that he would be focussing on Christian ministry now that he’s hung up his boots. Though he didn’t play at  Wembley as we entered the Premier League  via the play offs, or in the subsequent two years in the top flight, his earlier contributions were pivotal in our overall climb through the divisions. St. Stuart is a Hull City legend, make no mistake.

Richard Gardham

It’s that most desperately tedious time of year – when half of Newcastle gathers outside St James Park hoping to gurn for the nation, when Sky Sports News’ genial banality transforms into breathless pant-wetting idiocy, and when football agents really celebrate Christmas.

Sadly, necessarily, City aren’t immune to this. It’s not their fault really, the transfer window is FIFA’s witless notion, but nonetheless there has been a modicum of action at the Circle today. Leaving the club on loan is Anthony Gardner, who departs for Crystal Palace for the next few months. He featured in City’s first two games of the season, but a horrendous display in the 4-0 caning at Millwall saw him dropped for subsequent fixtures.

When he returns in January, he’ll find Anthony Gerrard here. The Tigers have signed him on a season’s loan from Cardiff, and the Liverpudlian defender may well be an immediate replacement for Gardner. He was a regular in Dave Jones’ side last season as they made the play-offs, but has dropped from the side this season and, according to the club’s official website, will be available for City’s next game….away to Cardiff.

It’s far too early to be worried. But it’s never too early to be angry.

What an atrocity of a performance this was, and against a side that will take greater pride in beating Hull City than the majority at this level will, even though we’re allegedly a fallen giant from the Premier League.

The day wasn’t helped by the alarming pre-match news that our manager had been admitted to hospital due to generically feeling “unwell”. The rumour mill turned vociferously through the afternoon, with some claiming Nigel Pearson will be back at his desk on Monday and others reckoning he will need a triple heart bypass and will be absent for months.

The former, according to the Head of Football Operations, applies and we can obviously be relieved that the manager has had no more than a bit of a scare, should that genuinely be the case. And therefore we can feel not remotely guilty about declaring open warfare on the commitment, organisation and spirit of the players.

With Craig Shakespeare in charge, City carded a 4-4-1-1 at the soulless Keepmoat Stadium – basically Glanford Park in red – and gave the elbow to Tom Cairney and Jay Simpson. The XI, in home shirts and white shorts and socks, was Duke, Solano, Dawson, Zayatte, Cooper, Ashbee, Bostock, Koren, Garcia, Barmby, Cullen.

Nick Barmby worked his greying hairs off and, ahead of him, Mark Cullen took on a task of considerable thanklessness and gave it his best go. Everyone else was beyond contempt.

Before the first minute had ticked by on football’s tiniest digital scoreboard – so diddy that it could have had an hourly charm installed and a leather strap attached to each side – Doncaster were ahead. Matt Duke was caught a little too far off his line as Martin Woods looped a header over him from James Coppinger’s cross. The whole thing was preventable as Liam Cooper cleared the ball weakly and in a panic instead of leaving it to Duke, conceding possession in as cheap and amateurish a manner as possible.

Oh this was a poor, poor start.

Woods got a second effort on target from a vicious free kick that swerved in the circling South Yorkshire wind but Duke managed to double-fist it away. Away from the actual opportunities created by these practitioners of a purist’s game, City were bad. The whole back four were devoid of a cool head, as one and individually, with Kamil Zayatte especially playing as if he’d set his own head on fire.

Zayatte. Is this rumour about Newcastle United based on reliable sources, or just another scam by this cretinous agent of his to get a slice of a Premier League signing on fee? It isn’t doing a very good footballer any good. Moreover, and more importantly, it isn’t doing City any good.

The game began to settle, patchily, and John Bostock and Robert Koren began to get a decent feel of the ball. Koren is still finding his feet but Bostock already has the whiff of a one-game wonder about him. He struggles to maintain interest when not in possession and doesn’t know where he is supposed to be on the park, while his ultra left-footedness – his reliance on one side of his body makes Kevin Ellison look like Andreas Brehme – makes his movements and intentions a cynch for opponents to predict.

For all the beefs about City’s display, the equaliser was beautifully crafted and wildly celebrated. Nolberto Solano took a quick free kick and gave Koren a soupcon of room, from which the Slovenian managed to steer a radiant pass through the one-paced Doncaster defence and into the path of Barmby, who scored with a crisp shot across Neil Sullivan. For ages since his last goal, he’s been one away from a major scoring milestone for his career, and finally it’s come. Buggered if I can remember exactly what it is though.

This welcome, if rather unexpected strike does not, however, instigate a fresh period of style and domination for the Tigers. In truth, they rarely looked like scoring again for the whole half. Doncaster were unperturbed by being dragged back to matters square and nearly retook the lead quickly when Brian Stock got to the byline inside the City area and pulled a dangerous ball across the six yard box which evaded Duke and was cleared sprawlingly by Zayatte as he sat on his backside.

Woods then let loose a swerving, angled effort from a half cleared corner which Duke batted out as the home side, backed by a dismal crowd in both numbers and volume, continued to dictate every manner of the game. City did have one effort from Bostock after a bad clearance allowed Richard Garcia to feed him in space, but Sullivan dealt with it in comfort.

Cooper then half cleared a Coppinger cross straight to Woods, whose goalbound shot struck the jutting knee of Zayatte and deflected wide when Duke seemed momentarily in real trouble. The Guinean then fell over with little comedy value attached and allowed the busy, irritating Billy Sharp to control and aim for the far corner with a shot that also seemed to have Duke fooled but was cleared by the backtracking Cooper.

Sharp was then fouled by Andy Dawson on the edge of the Doncaster box and the free kick was twice blocked prior to John Oster sending a spiralling header beyond Duke’s glove but on to the roof of the net. Zayatte also picked up a soft yellow card moments later, but when Cooper picked up another yellow in quick succession, just before the break, the punishment was greater.

This was a weird one. Doncaster took a corner and Matt Lockwood challenged with Cooper. Lockwood’s arm went up and all yelled for handball but officious referee Lee Mason interpreted the handball as due to a shove of some kind by Cooper. It looked very hard on the youthful defender, even more so when he got his booking. Heads were still being scratched as Sharp sent Duke the wrong way from the spot and chose to mock the Tiger Nation in celebration.

Two minutes were added to little effect and City went in behind, somewhat devoid of any real purpose or strategy. It was distinctly unpretty but it was retrievable. The second half began with a spell of Tigers pressure, including a corner or two, without really giving Sullivan any reason to wipe his brow. One corner was swung in by Bostock and Ian Ashbee, presumably due to a shout from Garcia, ducked under the dropping ball but the Aussie couldn’t get control as the leather pinballed around his shins and got away.

Sullivan clung on to a looping Barmby header soon afterwards, before the City veteran was, most surprisingly, hoiked off the field, along with the ineffective Bostock, to be replaced by Tom Cairney and the “stocky” Jay Simpson. City were going for it, as Garcia didn’t stay wide upon the reshuffle but accompanied Simpson and Cullen up front. Oooh, a 4-3-3. Now let’s see what happens.

Well, what happened was that Doncaster almost immediately notched their third. And City’s change in formation and desperate lack of organisation telegraphed this goal before it was actually scored. The home side sprayed the ball around from flank to flank, across the midfield, with Ashbee unable to do it all on his own, and finally Woods chipped a smart ball on to the instep of Coppinger just inside the area, and he aimed a sweet volly across Duke and into the corner.

There were 20 minutes left, and some of the less footballist branches of City’s support – the ones who shout abuse and wear no amber at all – chose that moment to leave. City’s only real response to going two behind was a Solano free kick that aimed itself at goal but was straightforwardly plucked out by a well-sighted Sullivan.

Duke made a fine save from a Sharp effort and then Woods put a low speculative effort wide after Sharp had teed up the chance, but the evidence of City’s continuing awfulness didn’t need to be highlighted by Doncaster’s own brand of pass and move frippery. The evidence was best served by the astonishing frequency that City – cultured players and all – gave away the ball without pressure. The defence did this a lot, but the likes of Koren, Garcia and Cairney were also culpable. Ashbee looked like he had forgotten what football was at times.

Cullen had a late effort go right at Sullivan, Garcia saw a drive deflected over (though he claimed via a hand, which Mr Mason noticeably laughed at) and then Koren swatted high and wide a free kick that brought back memories of Dean Marney’s memorable incidences of hole-digging.

City should have got a second deep into the added four minutes when Dawson’s long cross was headed past Sullivan by Garcia, only for James O’Connor to hack clear. A 3-2 defeat would, however, have looked close and thrilling and perhaps a shade unlucky. This game wasn’t close or thrilling and City were not remotely unlucky.

Doncaster were good value for their win, that’s not in doubt and, even though their town can’t fill a small stadium for a major derby and the price of tickets bordered on pickpocketing, it does no harm to suggest they might do well. They have a good manager and a tight-knit squad. Our squad does not seem tight-knit. It doesn’t play or act like a team. And 18 months have now passed since any City side has won away from home. If this is an example of how low City’s away form can sink, then it’ll be a while before that wretched stat is put to bed.

Martin Woods looped a header over an ill-positioned Matt Duke in the very first minute, but Nick Barmby fired in an equaliser after a great ball from Robert Koren split the home defence.

A soft penalty conceded by Liam Cooper allowed Billy Sharp to restore Doncaster’s lead from the spot just before the break, then James Coppinger struck a sweet volley past Duke with 20 minutes remaining to seal it.

Afterwards, Adam Pearson revealed that he expected stricken manager Nigel Pearson, who missed the game after being hospitalised with chest pains, to be back at work on Monday. The only consolation one can glean from this chronic defeat was that it could have been different had the gaffer been around to issue the orders. But it’s a long shot. Match report to come.

Tigers manager Nigel Pearson has been taken to hospital after complaining of feeling unwell.

The exact nature of Pearson’s illness is not known though some sources claim he had chest pains.

It means he will miss today’s npower Championship match at Doncaster Rovers, with assistant Craig Shakespeare taking charge of the team.

Indeed, with the yawning exception of the Tigers’ brace of seasons in the Premier League, the progress of the two clubs since those less enlightened days in the basement has been very similar, with both earning further promotions to Championship level and holding their own therein.

City play a league game at the Keepmoat Stadium for the first time ever tomorrow and seek a first away win in 25 attempts, or almost 18 months, if you prefer. Both teams won their opening day fixtures but have since taken a 4-0 hammering each on their travels and go into this game exactly equal on both points and goal difference.

The last time Doncaster hosted this fixture was in January 2005 at the rusty old Belle Vue arena. On that day they beat Peter Taylor’s side 1-0, bringing to an end a nine-match unbeaten run that still proved pivotal in helping the Tigers to a second successive promotion. The previous year, the two had scrapped out a televised 0-0 draw at Belle Vue which was one of the least compelling games of football ever played, even by City’s standards, but both went on to clinch automatic promotion.

City last won at Doncaster in the 1985 promotion season under Brian Horton when goals from Andy Flounders and Neil Williams secured a 2-1 win. Further gratitude was offered Doncaster’s way in 1998 when their extraordinary incompetence – off and on the pitch – rescued the abject Tigers from any real fear of relegation to the Conference despite a resolutely poor year under Mark Hateley.

The Tigers will tomorrow be without Paul McShane, who picked up an injury at Brentford in midweek and was substituted early, but Kamil Zayatte is able to return as the defence is reshuffled. Doncaster expect to welcome back the excellently-named Shelton Martis after a hamstring injury.