City 0 – 2 Hull City
On a freezing afternoon where the weather displayed Jekyll and Hyde like extremes on a par with those in the level of City’s performances this season, over 30,000 fans filled the Walkers stadium to discover which persona the team would choose this week.
The key question before the game was how the players would respond to a capacity crowd following their 4-1 away victory over West Brom. The answer did not make pleasant viewing.
Leicester lined up with Fryatt behind a front two of Howard and Hayles, and N’Gotty playing in front of Kisnorbo and McAuley in a midfield holding role.
I struggled to assemble many highlights of what was a shambolic performance by a group of players who are rapidly running out of both time and excuses for their woefully inconsistent form.
To be relegated on the back of a poor season whilst being well beaten by all comers is one thing, but to put together performances as this team have this season against Watford, Chelsea, Coventry, Norwich and West Brom shows they have the ability to compete. The mystery of why they can play like promotion candidates one week and relegation candidates the next continues, and will shortly be continuing in the third division for the first time in the club’s history if they don’t find an answer quickly.
City played with little passion or interest and created few chances in a game dominated both physically and in terms of possession by a decent Hull side…..
City had a penalty shout turned down early on following good work from Hayles down the left, however the pressure quickly shifted and first Campbell and then Garcia both went close but were unable to open the scoring. Henderson made the first of a string of good saves from a Clement free kick after 28 minutes.
In the 35th minute City finally managed to put some pressure on the Hull defence but the delivery into the box from Hendrie was poor. A minute later Howard and Hayles could have had a break but failed to communicate and the move broke down.
The useful looking Campbell, on loan from Man Utd caused problems for the city defence throughout the first half and in injury time got past them once more, pulling the ball back for Marney to shoot past Henderson and put Hull 1-0 up.
Anyone in the crowd with any hope left that this team can come back from a 1-0 deficit at home would have expected a rousing start to the second half having gone behind so late in the first. The reality however was that City came out after the interval and continued to be slow to the ball all over the pitch.
Etuhu replaced N’Gotty in a tactical switch which should have yielded more attacking play. The Man City loanee though had a nightmare, and did nothing to reduce the familiar problems of failing to keep the ball in midfield whilst wasting any possession the team did manage.
Henderson continued to be by far the busier of the two goalkeepers, making an excellent save on 57 minutes from Clement. Fryatt had a chance blocked whilst Howard shot just wide after 63 minutes.
What could and maybe should have been the defining moment of the game came in the 65th minute when Henderson brought down Campbell in the area and the linesman flagged for a penalty. With much argument from the City players and a few choice words from Hendrie earning him a booking the resulting spot kick from Marney was saved by Henderson low to his right in front of the kop.
The crowd were roused however this failed to transfer to the players as after a half chance for Howard they appeared to return to their previous poor levels of effort and application. Holloway attempted to change this by bringing on Mattock for Clapham and Campbell for Fryatt in the 74th minute however Mattock’s first act was to allow the Hull substitute Folan to sprint between him and Kisnorbo before slotting the ball past Henderson to put Hull 2-0 up.
Against Bristol City the team created chances in abundance and were unlucky not to score. I would like to say that in the last 13 minutes we battered Hull’s goal in pursuit of a point and were inconsolable at the final whistle. Sadly though both of these would be entirely misleading. City created very few chances even in the dying minutes and were ultimately well beaten by a well organised but by no means great Hull side.
The team are now level on points with Sheffield Wednesday who are third bottom with two games in hand, and will play the two clubs below them in the next three weeks. Whether they have the desire to get the points they need to prevent relegation remains to be seen. Dark days indeed to be a city fan.
City: Henderson, Stearman, Clapham, Kisnorbo, McAuley, N’Gotty, Oakley, Hendrie, Fryatt, Hayles, Howard. Subs: Etuhu (45 for N’Gotty), Mattock (74 for Clapham), Campbell (74 for Fryatt), Clemence, Wesolowski.
Hull City: Myhill, Ricketts, Turner, Clement, Dawson, Garcia, Ashbee, Marney, Pedersen, Campbell, Windass. Subs: Walton (52 for Ashbee), Folan (73 for Campbell), France (80 for Garcia), Tyler, Hughes
Referee: R Beeby (Northants) Attendance: 30,374
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation