Dazed Review – Cardiff visit the KC

Well all the talk really this week had been all about the £5 ticket offer that Adam Pearson had hastily put together, people were for it (myself included) and plenty of people were against it , the fact was this meant over 23,000 in attendance against a team who a few weeks ago were top of the Championship, this was not going to be an easy challenge and the players really needed to get there acts together and show us fans that they do want to play for Hull City and that they were capable of staying in this division ?

Two changes were made to the side that lost to Plymouth, the injured Welsh was replaced by Dean Marney and Steve Mcphee finally got the start after 15 months out through injury, the actual formation looked like a sort of 4-3-3 formation with the front players being given a license to roam where ever they saw fit ?

The game started and straight away we were on the attack, Adam Pearson and Phil Brown promised we would go for it and they delivered as Marney won us a corner early, from a second corner we got what we wanted, an early goal ? Ashbee`s header was cleared off the line and Delaney put away the rebound to give the team the lead and send the fans thinking maybe we could do this one?

We did not settle for one goal either ? we were going for it and Mcphee was running around with conviction chasing everything ? it was his running which created the second goal ? he chased down a seemingly lost ball and then passed it beautifully to Marney, via a wonderful dummy by Barmby ? Marney took his time and rifled a left foot shot into the net for his first goal for City ? As soon as he scored after that you saw what Dean Marney was all about ? he was chasing everything, ran the length and breadth of the pitch starting good passing moves off and charging forward at the right times getting involved with the front three who themselves were dragging the defense in every direction, Cardiff were shell shocked, their fans silent ? we were dictating pace and almost creating chances at will ? we could have been 4-0 up by the time Mcphee played a lovely ball that split the defense and Fagan coolly rounded the keeper and slotted into the open net to make it 3-0 at half time ? you could be forgiven for pinching yourself wondering if this was some surreal dream ?

Half time – Hull City 3 – 0 Cardiff City

The second half started much in the way the first had finished with Hull controlling the game and having a number of good chances, it was perhaps a tad unlucky that Cardiff then pulled one back as the dangerous Chopra sprung the offside trap and finished with the class you would expect from him ? this then led to a nervy ten minutes or so as Cardiff enjoyed their best spell of the game and had a couple of chances of their own ?

Slowly Hull came back into control though and Fagan, Mcphee and Barmby were looking very dangerous every time they had the ball in the Cardiff half ? Barmby was then forced off the pitch with an injury and his perfect replacement made a welcome return in Bridges ? he immediately began making an impact as he slipped seamlessly into this formation and started dictating play with neat passing between the three front men and Marney ? This formation worked in my opinion because we had 6 players sticking rigidly in their positions (the back four, Ashbee and Livermore) and this allowed the other players basically to do what they like and run Cardiff around trying to mark shadows at time ? The defenders did not know who to pick up at any time as for once we were very very unpredictable in a good way ?

We then got our fourth and it was from great play from Fagan , he calmly crossed and Mcphee got in front of the keeper to try for goal but was unlucky, the rebound then fell to Bridges who scored easily and you could see how much this meant to him to get a goal on his return and fully deserved ? This calmed us down result wise and we almost got even more when Fagan won us a penalty, he stayed calm in the box and would have scored no doubt ? another difference in the team ? confidence and patience once in the penalty box ? we were not rushing and snapping at half chances ? we made the chances good ones and more often than not made the keeper make a save ?

Mcphee stepped up to take the penalty and tried to be too clever, a few have said this was foolish and maybe it was but for him to have the confidence to try this even in front of a full house in his first game back at the KC in over 14 months I say good on the lad ? mind you if his scorpion kick attempt had have connected and gone in we would all be calling him a genius no doubt! Then Myhill felt like having a go at goal as the Cardiff keeper was off the line but he got back in time ?

Mcphee then came off to a wonderful reception and fully deserved as Elliott joined in on the party ? the game finished and the team got the applause and ovation fully deserved ? have we turned the corner ? Time will tell but I went away from the KC like most the happiest I have been in a long while as I had just witnessed the best performance of this season, And to be honest the best performance in two seasons by Hull City ?

Full Time – Hull City 4 – 1 Cardiff City

Anyway Player Ratings

Myhill – 7? Made vital saves when Cardiff had their one and only spell of dominance if you could call it that, other than that did not have much to do ?

Dawson – 7? Defensively sound and did not play long ball as much as in the best ? best game he has played in a long while ?

Delaney – 8? Showing why he is and should be in the first choice defensive partnership ? solid and chipped in with the first goal which I think settled the nerves of the players and set them off on the road to victory ?

Coles – 8? Good partnership with Delaney and looks a lot better and composed as opposed to when he was with Turner in the middle ?

Ricketts – 7? The Same as Dawson except he got forward a lot more and helped out the attacks where he could without exposing the back four ?

Ashbee – 7? Tough tackling and in his ideal role without having to worry about attack he just could work hard in breaking up any attacks that Cardiff tried to muster ?

Marney – 9? Best game he has played for us by a country mile ? as soon as he got his goal you could see the difference in him and he looked like he has been given a new lease of life as he was allowed to play the way I feel he wants to play ?

Livermore – 8? Perfect foil for Ashbee controlling the middle ? and at times was quite cheeky with some of his passing, would say his best game of the season as well ?

Mcphee – 9? First start and what a player he is! Clever passing, brilliant vision and his pace is fantastic ? shame he was trying to be a bit too clever with the penalty but he can be forgiven with that one ?

Fagan – 8? Looked better for having another player of the same likeness in Mcphee ? they could move and interchange at will and pull defenders where they liked ? great composure for the goal as well ?

Barmby – 8? Pulled the strings and is in the best form I have seen in a long while ? passing brilliant and I especially liked his unselfish dummy to allow Marney the opportunity to get the second ?

Subs

Bridges – 8 ? Came on for Barmby and got an important fourth goal as well as doing exactly what Barmby had been doing prior to him ? looked so pleased to get the goal also ?

Elliott – 6 ? Not really on long enough to do much ?

Top Tiger? Dean Marney, great game and started to repay his transfer fee ? great to get his first goal ?

Tigers Tail? Honestly ? no one

Managers Performance – 9/10? Brown said he would attack and his side, tactics and everything worked brilliantly ? I must admit he looked more of a manager in his suit rather than tracksuit ? bit silly maybe but I do thinks its important a manager looks like a manager when on the touchline ?

Ref Watch – 7/10? To be honest I did not see him make too many mistakes, was a period in the second half he got a bit whistle happy and gave out a couple of silly yellow cards ?

Crowd Watch – 9/10? 23,089, all singing and enjoying the game ? the atmosphere was worthy of that performance ?

where to from here?? Leeds away and this game could pull us out the bottom three and condemn Leeds even further in trouble ? play like this once again and three points could be there for us ? as well as show a bit of consistency ?