Today was a must win game. Failure to do so would have handed promotion to Stoke and West Brom. Did the Tigers' class of 2008 crumble under the pressure? Not likely. They gave us everything, again, and defeated very good opponents in fine, but nail biting, style.
I must admit, today was my favourite home game of the season. The atmosphere was excellent; the almost-full KC stadium glistened in the sunlight. Half of one end was red and blue, balloons and all. The rest was a sea of black and amber. The oppo's were good. They had quality all over the pitch, some who've been there and seen it all; others who are just starting out but look capable of going a long way. City have ruthlessly dispatched a lot of teams recently but Palace are the first team who've arrived at the KC for a while full of confidence, in good form and with a record that suggests they can beat anyone, home or away. We struggled in the first 15 to get to grips with them. They made the early running and forced us onto the back foot. From a set piece, Ash headed against his own post. Moses, on the left wing, gave Sam Ricketts a roasting. Not many players put Sam on his backside but Moses did. They looked fluent and confident. We defended well but couldn't get a great deal of the ball. Then Windass won a free-kick from nothing and curled it against the bar. It gave everyone a lift and we started to match them. Moses and Soares had got forward at will early but rarely did for the next 75.
Ricketts got to grips with Moses, he started to stop the ball getting to him in the first place and pushed him backwards and made him defend, which he didn't like much. When we took the lead, it was route one. Big kick from Bo, great win in the air from Folan and Campbell allowed far too much time to control, turn and fire home from the edge of the box, possibly with the aid of a slight deflection. We took control after that, for most of the rest of the game. Windass had to go off after a disgraceful tackle from Derry cut his leg open. The ref allowed City an advantage which was immediately ended, then rather than bringing play back, he allowed Palace to attack and all the while, Windass lay bleeding on the turf. To rub salt in the wounds - not literally, fortunately - he only booked Derry. Players have been sent off for much, much less this season. The ref was poor all game, he was generally inconsistent, easily conned and gave some strange decisions. Shortly after, Pedersen had to go off too, replaced by Nathan Doyle at left back. We attacked well and played some decent stuff without creating many real opportunities. Just before half time, we gifted them an equaliser. They scrambled the ball into our box were it fell to Wayne Brown. He'd normally whack it into row Z but for some reason, he took a touch, possibly because Doyle was standing in front of him. From on the ground, Morrison nicked the ball from Brown and it fell to Sinclair, who finished well. Doing nothing and nicking a goal against us is becoming his specialty.
I thought we were outstanding in the second half. Learning a lesson from last week, we flew out of the blocks. We put in a tremendous amount of work and won the midfield battle all ends up. Palace's 4-3-3 became 4-5-1 as we forced Sinclair and Moses to defend, or to be more precise, to stand and watch from a deeper position. Morrison was isolated and we didn't give them a sniff of a chance at goal. Phil Brown had started with a 4-3-3. While it was dictated in a way by a lack of options, it was also an attempt to match up with Palace's 3 in midfield and we swamped them. Ash picked up everything that came out and Marney and Hughes collected the ball from him and asked questions of their defence. Palace defended superbly but our front three where quick and mobile and kept pushing and pushing them. Palace couldn't rest for a second. In the last 20, we pumped the ball forward a bit too quickly and the Palace defence won most of the ball. Barmby replaced Hughes, which was harsh on Hughes who was awesome, but I appreciate Browny had to try something. Barmby was barely involved; he looked like someone who hasn't played for months. We kept the pressure on them, forcing them to defend and pushing their midfield back. They didn't manage a shot on target in the second half but were dangerous from a couple of set pieces. Sinclair was subbed, once they'd dragged him out of Doyle's pocket. We won a free-kick 35 yards out, Brown took it quickly to Ricketts and he forced a corner. A guy near me said "Time for an Ashbee special", more in hope than expectation, probably. From Marney's perfect delivery, the skipper rose like the proverbial salmon and looped a header into the top corner of the net. The place absolutely ground erupted. Our section had more reason than most to celebrate. A minute or so earlier, some said "Colchester have equalised". A few minutes later, there was further news "Colchester have won". We went mad. "Oh hang on, Stoke have won". Easily the most disappointing six words, right there. The original news turned out to be false too. Football grounds are horrible sometimes. We hung on easily through the 765 minutes of stoppage time.
Myhill barely needs a mention today. Apart from picking the ball out of the net, he had nothing to do. Ricketts had a tough time at first but overcame his opponent in the end. He had a quiet second half. The ball tended to go left a little bit more. Typically, he was still charging forward late on and played a key role in the winning goal. Pedersen never really looked comfortable. Palace also tended to attack down the left, which might have been lucky because Henrik didn't look fit enough to chase Sinclair around. Nathan Doyle did though. He was superb. He won the ball in the air and cut out passes on the floor to stop any threat early. When Sinclair ran at him, Doyle came out on top every time but one. In the second half he moved forward, nicked a ball on the edge of the box, dinked it over one tackle, knocked it past another man and hammered a shot somewhere into orbit. It was a fantastic run though. He did a really good job down the left, got most of his passes right, gave Brown and Hughes a good passing option and put in one decent cross with his 'wrong' foot. His long throws were very useful too. Mikey Turner did what he does every week. He battles attackers, he wins just about everything in the air, he makes tackles and interceptions, some routine and some crucial, and he causes havoc from every corner and long throw. He deflected one shot past Bo's left hand post, the rest of the ground had kittens but he was as cool as ever. He should have scored in the second half; he headed wide under little pressure. Wayne Brown was absolutely awesome. In the first 15 when we were under pressure, he won everything that flew into our box. He was great in possession, their goal aside, and he kept everyone in check at the back.
The midfield trio won their battle. Ashbee protected while Marney and Hughes strutted their stuff. Hughes was fantastic, picking up possession, always keeping hold of the ball, twisting and turning his opponents and delivering the ball to one of ours on almost every occasion. Like Marney, he can graft too and tracked Watson and Soares from midfield every time. Marney had a quieter first half, keeping play ticking over but not really causing trouble. In the second, he took the game a bit more by the scruff of the neck and found himself in space where he could do some damage. One super run lifted everyone in the ground. The three of them were excellent against a talented and confident Palace threesome.
We gambled on a front three and they didn't let us down. Deano had to be 'creative' early on as they were a bit starved of the ball. Unfortunately, he had to go off but his replacement, Fagan, produced his best performance since he came back. Like Folan and Campbell, he was a real handful. They linked up well with the midfield and made lots of willing runs. They fought for everything, in the air and on the floor. Clear cut chances weren't often forth coming but they made the best of every half chance. All three looked very exciting when they pulled wide and went at defenders. It was a treat to see four quality front players on the pitch, plus Barmby coming back.
We deserved the three points. The application and the commitment to attacking the opposition in the second half was superb and deserved reward. They say fortune favours the brave and I've said on more than one occasion this season, Phil Brown is definitely brave. We had to win today to keep our auto-promo hopes alive. We did that but unfortunately; we didn't get a slice of luck from elsewhere. We've put the pressure on Stoke and West Brom though, which is all we could do. I'd be more confident of our chances if we weren't relying on no-hopers like Southampton and Leicester but while there's a chance, we'll keep fighting.
Regardless of what happens in the next 8 days, this has been a wonderful season. By far the best I've ever seen. This is officially the best ever Hull City team, the 23rd best team in the country, minimum. The manager has been immense; you can count his mistakes this season on one hand. The players have given everything they have. We've often outclassed the opposition. We've sometimes made up for poor performance or better opponents by being brave, bloody minded and showing incredible strength of character. Whatever comes next, the 11 guys we put on the pitch most weeks can look every fan in the eye and know they've given us everything we could ever hope for. For that, I thank every one of them.
I expect we'll have at least three more games this season, but good lord, I really hope not!
Ratings: Myhill 6, Ricketts 7, Pedersen 6 (Doyle 8), Brown 9, Turner 7, Ashbee 8, Marney 7, Hughes 8 (Barmby), Windass 6 (Fagan 7), Campbell 7, Folan 7.