Epic

[slowfox]

Omens weren't good as P and I took our seats in the KC last night, scanning the Hull players as they participated in the pre-match warm up. Instinctively, y'see, I was searching out the ratherly bizarrely coiffured Jimmy Bullard, our star star player who has been just light years ahead of his team-mates in terms of skill. And I couldn't spot him.

brundle then sent me a text confirming no Bullard, and absolute formal confirmation came with the stadium's announcer giving the team-sheets. Bullard wasn't even on the bench. This, needless to say, didn't bode well.

We were playing Everton, who, last season at least, were a pretty good side, and a team who many were tipping to possibly break into the 'top four' in the Premier League were one side to perhaps give way.

Anyway, from kick-off, it all started looking ominous, as Everton broke down their left flank, our defence completely failed to press, and I was starting to brace myself for a cricket score being racked up.

But then...

...on 9 minutes, Hunt scored for Hull
...on 20 minutes, Dawson made it 2-0
...and on 28 minutes Marney put us 3-0 up.

And it was beautiful. The players were well up, playing with confidence and palpable self-belief.

So at half-time, I sent brundle a text that said Jimmy who?

Y'all heard of tempting Fate, right?

Moyes sent his Everton charges out early after half-time, and with what I was fervently hoping wouldn't be prescient pessimism, I'd texted the fear that if we could score three goals in 30 minutes, then we could certainly ship 4 in 45...

Not four minutes into the second half, Everton, who'd been throwing everything at us from the re-start, were pressing forward and in the resultant mess, Zayatte scored an own goal that just looped up and down, agonisingly slowly into the corner of the net.

This was all the encouragement that Everton seemed to need, and the second half was all theirs. To compound his own-goal, Zayatte was the culprit that gave Everton their penalty (to be fair, he didn't have much choice - Saha was through on goal) which Saha duly converted.

So, having been surveying the match from the lofty position of 3-0 up at half time, and even reassuring ourselves that we still had a two goal margin after Zayatte's own goal, at 3-2, it's suddenly all to play for...

As it happened, we did manage to scrape our way to the final whistle (past four minutes of injury time, with attendant deafening screeches as the faithful (attendance was 24,600-odd) implored the ref to call time), suriving a heart-stopping free-kick moment right at the death...

But Hull 3, Everton 2 was the final result, and that was some epic match.

Comments

[ex_simon644]

I am unimpressed. We should only count the second half! :(

[cynthia_black]

That sounds like quite some match :-)