Hull 2, Saints 4

Sunday, December 3, 2006

It's just over a year since Saints were last at Hull, but none of the Saints players who had turned out at the KC Stadium played this year.

In 2005 we took a first half lead with a move down the left converted by Kosowski, but this time it was a good low cross from Jones on the other flank that set up Rasiak for number one.

Hull wouldn't have had much confidence after a midweek drubbing, and now they were up against free-scoring Saints: it wasn't long before Bale chipped in a free kick that had us shouting 'goal' almost as soon as he struck it.

A good first half's work left us well on the way to a comfortable victory... just one late corner to defend. Judging by the number of goals from that source, few Championship sides deal easily with the inswinging cross, but under-fire Kelvin Davis kept the ball out; shame his colleagues couldn't stop Barmby scoring from the loose ball.

Still not quite half time, but Jones had plenty of better options than the backpass that allowed Fagan to equalise.

After the attempt to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory against Birmingham, the fans' mood at the break was not good..

What we needed was 45 minutes of calm, measured football, and s*d the entertainment. Southampton obliged, with the gloom lifted when Rasiak finished off good work by Bale and Skacel. When Wright-Phillips came off the bench to make the score 4-2 for the second time in 4 days, a total of 12 minutes playing time remained. Surely we wouldn't foul up again? No!

Man of the Match: Gareth Bale. Nice goal, good assist, sound defending.

PS. Saints team at Hull 22/11/05: Niemi, Delap, Svensson, Powell, Higginbotham, Belmadi, Oakley, Quashie, Kosowski (Hajto), Walcott, Ormerod (Fuller). Jones was amongst the subs, but not used.