Dazed Review – Burnley at the K.C.

After The Boxing day suicide that was the Leicester game I must admit I did not hold out much hope at all, too many players did not perform and frankly should have been embarrassed with the way they “performed” against a Leicester team that themselves were nothing too special ?

Changes had to be made and they were ? Turner replaced the injured Danny Coles and Also Jon Parkin and Nick Barmby were restored to the starting eleven ? The most surprising of them had to be Ryan France replacing Sam Ricketts at Right back ? This did little to give me hope before the game to be honest but hey after all it is Hull City ?

As they kicked off the weather was dire and to be honest it matched my mood and when Turner sliced a routine clearance away for a corner I was dreading a torturous 90 minutes ? 5 minutes later Fagan worked well down the left from a nice pass from Barmby, he pulled it back and Dean Marney arrived in the right place at the right time to put it away, 1-0 City and who knows, maybe we were going to show that we can play from there ?

The game to and throwed from there for a period with both teams having their chances ? Barmby had turned his man and drew the foul perfectly as the Burnley player was left with no real choice but to bring him down ? Fagan calmly finished the spot kick and we were 2-0 up with 25 minutes!! I was personally in a bit of shock as this was the last thing I had expected but we were playing neat football at a great pace, the defense looked solid and the forwards were breaking with great pace and getting a good chance with almost every attack ? Towards the end of the half though Burnley started taking control of the game and created a couple of chances of their own but admittedly without really troubling our defense to the point were we looked like conceding ?

The last action of the half saw Fagan brought down when supposedly through on goal ? only the fact two other defenders were nearby saved him from being sent off ?.

Half Time – Hull City 2 – 0 Burnley

The Next half started with Burnley making their third (yes third !) and final change on the half time mark ? We had them pretty rattled but to be fair to them they were trying to play good football which I think just suited us a lot better than when we were playing against Leicester and I must admit Barmby was indeed the difference in the game , his effort running to defend and then link up with the attack, it showed how badly he has been missed the previous couple of games, no disrespect to Bridges but I just think Barmby does know when to and when not to do the simple things and its those simple things that make the difference and in this case created the openings which led to two goals ?

Back to the game and on the whole Burnley were on top but our defense was showing resilience and they were throwing everything to make sure we did not concede ? Other highlights included the moment that most of the crowd thought they were going to see Marney get arrested for assault as if Ash had not have pulled him away at the moment he did I could see the Burnley player not staying on his feet for much longer and not getting up in a hurry either (mind you Burnley were spending more time on the floor claiming for everything so maybe he had been more comfy down on the floor)

Barmby got booked soon after that and then was subbed for Forster ? Fagan then hit the bar from a fantastic cross and play from Dawson which truly deserved a goal ? Forster also had two glorious chances which to be fair he should have scored from, then in came Nicky Featherstone for his senior debut and he showed some neat touches as the game finished with a convincing victory for the Tigers who showed massive improvement from the previous game ? Whether it was just a blip against Leicester time will tell ?.

Full Time – Hull City 2 – 0 Burnley


Anyway Player Ratings

Myhill – 6? Did not have much to do but made saves when called upon and to be honest looked dodgy at times in the commanding of his area ?? ? again

Dawson – 7? Much better game, it seems he has been given more of a license to roam forward of late and looks better for it ?

Delaney – 8? Mr. Dependable yet again, very solid and was not afraid to make a challenge that got him booked as it stopped what would have been a goal in my opinion ?

Turner – 8? One of if not his best game for us yet despite a shaky first few minutes ? Coles will struggle to get back in the side on this performance ?

France – 8? Very good game for France, worked well with Marney down the right but at times maybe a bit too hasty to go forward ?

Ashbee – 7? Good game from Ash and showed his leadership well when he stormed in to stop Marney getting a certain red card ?

Marney – 9? Fantastic game by Marney, really starting to show his ability now during longer spells of the game, going to be key for the second half of the season ?

Livermore – 8? Worked well alongside Ashbee and is fast becoming one of our more consistent performers ?

Parkin – 6? Our worst performer I feel, looks like he gets too tired too easily ? I don`t think this formation and style of play suits him to be honest ? held the ball up well at times though ?

Fagan – 9? Rumour is he is off to Derby, I would keep him and allow him a free transfer at the end of the season as I believe that with him in our team we will survive ?

Barmby – 9? What can you say about Nicky Barmby, this was his best game I have seen him play for a long while ? really is proving doubters (including myself) extremely wrong ?

Subs

Forster – 6 ? Missed two clear chances, maybe his days are starting to look numbered already ???

Elliott – 6 ? Did not really do much when he came on ?

Featherstone – 6 ? Came on and showed glimpses of his promise ? will look forward to seeing how this kid develops ?

Top Tiger? Barmby did everything right ?

Tigers Tail? Parkin for the reasons I have already stated ? think he would be better coming off the bench to be honest ?

Managers Performance – 7/10? Did not much wrong except maybe should have took off Parkin but I guess he was saving Barmby for the Sheffield game two days later ?

Ref Watch – 7/10? Not too bad but lost the plot for a period of the game ?

Crowd Watch – 7/10? Some very nervous fans that ended up walking away with a smile on their faces including me ?

where to from here ?? Sheffield Wednesday away and as we look to take our first double of the season it is against the form team of the league ?