Bristol Rovers 2 Hull City 1

Last updated : 14 December 2003 By Footymad Previewer

He gave Bristol Rovers permission to use Ryan Williams, the winger they have borrowed from him for three months and he won it for his temporary club.

A busy run into the box ended with a curling cross aimed at the far post. It was out of the keepers reach and Rovers' Junior Agogo, returning after 2 months absence, was initially credited with the final touch but the goal and all the credit went to Williams.

More than that the diminuative winger lifted the entire Rovers side. After falling behind to a Ben Burgess header in the 5th minute they were being completely out-played by a Hull side determined to put their recent poor run behind them.

Taking advantage of a poor defensive system and the big gap between midfield and the back four the Tigers began to turn on the style of their impressive early season form.

Burgess' 8th goal this season saw him go up unchallenged at the far post as Ryan Francis, also unmarked, picked him out from close on 20 yards.

With Jason Price winning everything in the air and both Burgess and Francis outsmarting their markers a decisive away win looked the only outcome. Williams changed all that.

Rovers fans gave their club a further boost at half time when they handed over a cheque for £105,000 towards buying a seat on the board and they had everything to cheer in the second half as Rovers got well on top. As their tightness in the tackle became more evident Hull lost their crispness and this became even more evident when Price was brought back into the middle line to deal with the threat from Williams.

The winger was close to setting up a goal with one corner which saw Adam Barrett send a header just wide.

But then in the 87th minute Williams struck a low corner which defenders failed to get away leaving Agogo to drive in the winner, Rovers first in nine games.

Both the Hull skipper Ian Ashbee and Marc Joseph were booked for their tackles on Williams but he had the final say.