Despite going 2-0 up early in the second half, a combination of things let Hull back into a game that they hadn't appeared to have a sniff in, and in the end the vistitors will have been disappointed to be returning to East Riding of Yorkshire without at least a share of the spoils.
Steve Bruce made three changes to the team that started at Ninian Park two weeks ago. Maik Taylor returned ahead of Colin Doyle for starters, whilst both Matt Sadler and Stephen Kelly were carrying knocks, and so Sebastian Larsson and Julian Gray came in. Gray took up Sadler's left-back berth, whilst Larsson started wide on the right, allowing David Dunn to play infield alongside Mehdi Nafti, with Damien Johnson dropping back to right-back to cover for Kelly. Bruce will also have been disappointed with Hull picking such an attacking team, which removed his token "they put ten men behind the ball" excuse. New boys Nicky Forster and Michael Bridges started up front, whilst Craig Fagan - another striker by trade - played wide right, and former Spurs attacking midfielder Dean Marney played wide left. You can't say they didn't come to have a go...
Blues started tentatively, and Hull capitalised on this, looking fairly sharp. Bridges (who was tracked by Premiership teams whilst at Carlisle recently, and is showing signs of his talent that meant Leeds spent millions on him not so long ago) went on a mazy run and forced a smart save from Taylor. Former Blues forwards Forster and Fagan also looked sharp. Forster in particular didn't look like a player who turned 33 yesterday - he was as quick and effective as he's always been.
Blues did start to get themselves in to the game, and on the quarter hour mark they took the lead through DJ Campbell - who had moments earlier wasted a glorious chance to either score himself or play Gary McSheffrey in, by doing a bit of neither, if that makes any sense? It was poor anyway. Still, after Dunn found McSheffrey with a great ball into the left hand channel, the former Coventry man did well to cross and Campbell nipped in at the near post to flick the ball past Boaz Myhill in the Hull goal. Campbell missed further good chances later, and following his instinctive header against Colchester, and following this strike, you have to say he looks to be a much better finisher when it is purely instinct and he doesn't have time to think about things, as oppose to when he has a bit of time and he's one-on-one with the 'keeper, say.
Now that they had the lead, Blues started to play some very good football. McSheffrey was making smart runs and causing Hull problems, whilst Nafti anchored the midfield well, allowing Dunn, Larsson and Nicklas Bendtner to all 'do their thing'. A combination of Campbell and Jaidi (or just one of them - it was hard to see) also hit the Hull post following a great free-kick from McSheffrey. Blues were perhaps guilty of overplaying things at times, and given the possession they had before the interval perhaps should have been at least 2-0 up at the break, but still, they went in 1-0 up after playing some pretty impressive stuff at times.
Blues came out fairly slowly in the second half - as they so often do. Hull maybe sensed this, and started brightly without causing any real problems, before Blues actually went 2-0 up. McSheffrey was again the provider with a pin point corner that Bendtner powered into the back of the net with his head. To say Bendtner was unmarked would be an understatement - there were British troops serving in Iraq who got closer to him than the Hull defence, and the former Villa youth 'keeper Myhill (who I confidently predict will be a top Premiership goalkeeper within 3 years) was helpless. So, 2-0, about 35 minutes to go - job done, surely?
Well, something like that... Hull heads actually dropped after conceding Bendtner's goal, and Blues really did begin to look comfortable for five or ten minutes. It's never going to be that simple with Blues though, is it?
Enter Maik Taylor.
Bruno N'Gotty chased a ball down into the corner, and dragged a Hull forward with him, which allowed him ot knock a backpass to Taylor who wasn't in acres of space as Forster and Bridges ran at him, but he certainly had enough time to make a decent enough clearance. Taylor though, perhaps having seen Spanish players do it against Northern Ireland on Wednesday night, decided to try and dribble his way out of trouble, and just about got away with it. The problem was though that Blues had been easing to victory as easily as an American eases towards a burger joint, only for Hull to suddenly take this little opportunity to raise their game. Taylor put Blues under unnecessary pressure, and Hull were able to pin Blues back for about the first time in an hour. Moments later, can you guess what happened?! Yes! Hull scored! Some poor Blues defending meant that Fagan was able to tee up David Livermore - the midfielder who started pre-season at Millwall before being sold to Leeds who then a week later sold him to Hull because they'd bought Kevin Nicholls from Luton and they preferred him - and he made no mistake.
Now, whether you're playing Barcelona, Hull City or Paget Rangers, if you're 2-0 up, and then give a goal away with about 20-25 minutes remaining, it's going to be difficult to wrestle the momentum back in your favour, and so it proved. Hull upped their game, as they would, and Blues naturally retreated. Hull also threw on man-monster Jon Parkin, who I suspect also eases towards burger joints, to chants of 'Beast!' from the travelling fans as they pushed for an equaliser. Hull, to be fair, were possible unlucky not to get a second. Forster went close, Johnson cleared off the line, and Parkin hit the post before he was sent off at the death for two bookable offences - I think both bookings were for just being really big and running into people. Blues did just about hold on though, and, to be fair, missed their fair share of chances themselves in the second half.
This game ended up being a lot closer than it should have been. Yes, it was all very exciting at the end, with Hull chasing an equaliser, Parkin being sent off, Steve Bruce attempting to fight with Phil Parkinson, etc, etc, but none of it should have been an issue. Blues were looking so comfortable, but then for whatever reason let Hull back into it. I've levelled some blame at Taylor, as I sometimes do, but in fairness, everyone seemed to lose it a bit. People around me were blaming Steve Bruce, and whilst I'm no big fan of the guy as a manager, he was managing a team that went from looking like easing to a comfortable victory one minute to one that all of a sudden looked beyond shocking a minute later. Blues HAD been playing well, and then it all went to pot, and maybe Bruce should take some of the blame, but to be fair, the players suddenly seemed to just lose all footballing ability and allow Hull back into it. If you're going to say Blues played well in the first half and looked comfortable at 2-0, you have to say things were working until this mysterious surrender-all-possession-and-territory-to-Hull happened.
I hate to harp on about things and repeat myself, but this squad should be too good for such problems. I'm not saying that they won't suffer setbacks, but when you're 2-0 up at home and comfortable, there should be enough in this squad to kill teams off. Where I sit, I had Matthew Upson (England International), Cameron Jerome (England U21 International), Fabrice Muamba (England U19 International), Marcos Painter (Ireland U21 International) and Stephen Clemence (Ray's son) sat in front of me. None of those were even in the sixteen, for whatever reasons! I mean, come on... how strong a squad do you want at this level? Surely they need to start proving that they're so strong soon? I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again - this squad is good enough to get promotion, but whether they'll do that because of Steve Bruce or in spite of him, I don't know. They certainly shouldn't have been involved in a tight finish today though if the first hour was anything to go by, but they were, and they could easily have got nothing out of the game.
So, to other matters... 'Johnsongate', to start. Damien Johnson was cheered and clapped in the same way as all other Blues players as the teams were read out, so credit to the fans for that, and credit too to Johnson who turned in an excellent performance at right-back. Julian Gray, on the other hand, was quite shocking at left-back, much to my dismay, as I've championed his cause lately. Not on today's display though. And finally, Nicklas Bendtner - what can I say? I mean, seriously, let's enjoy it whilst here's here, because he'll be a world superstar. Larsson played well too.
Ok, Blues won, let's not be too down, but a convincing win (as today should have been) will go a long way to appeasing a lot of fans' fears about the current situation. Blues have won four games now this season, but none have been convincing, and with a slight bit of luck for the opponents, those games could all have been draws. If so, we'd be looking at 5 points out of a possible 18 so far, but as it is we're looking at 13. You can look at it either way, but as I say, a convincing display will be needed to settle fans' nerves, as Blues won't keep getting away with it like they did today. As it was though, for Nicky Forster it was an unhappy birthday weekend, whilst Blues can enjoy returning to the automatic promotion places - convincingly or unconvincingly, they're there. For now.
