Dazed Review – Hull vs Tranmere

The Dazed Review – Tranmere Rovers at the KC ?

After the hard earned point against Ipswich it was time we could all relax a little and enjoy a cup tie which we had a good chance of being victorious in ? Tranmere Rovers were the opposition and pre match the calls of needing a couple of keepers on the bench and asking if they had resigned Whitmore as cover in goal etc provided good banter between the fans pre match ?

I arrived at the game and the crowd was, well, not there!! I predicted between 800 and 9000 but I was sorely disappointed that only 6000 turned up to see this game especially as it was £10 a ticket at full price even ?

Not to worry though, the team was pretty similar to the one that played against Ipswich with Elliott and Burgess in and Fagan reverting to a striking role alongside Burgess with Elliott on the left and France on the right ? Barmby was not in the 16 and neither was Green which makes you wonder what is going on with him at the moment ? Duffy, Welsh and Parkin on the bench to offer us options should we need them also ?

The early exchanges were nervous being honest and Tranmere if anyone looked closest to scoring first ? we were struggling to get going and to be honest looked too afraid to go forward in fear of conceding at the other end ? having said that Marney had a couple of chances and linked up play well with France in particular ? this carried on until well into the half when Ellison swung a corner in which was headed over the line for Tranmere to take the lead ? Ellison was playing well for Tranmere and It was nice to see him working hard and being appreciated by the city fans at times ? anyway it was 1-0 to Tranmere and we knew that we had to start playing otherwise we could end up with an embarrassing defeat on our hands ? Elliott and Burgess in particular where very ineffective while Dawson, Livermore and France were all trying to gear the team up however they could ?

Our closest effort in the first half came from Elliott who looped a hopeful cross over but in the end the keeper had to be very alert to tip it over the bar as it would have actually crept in just under the bar ?

Half Time – Hull City 0 – 1 Tranmere Rovers

Second half begins and we all hope for a much improved performance from the lads, no changes made which at the time surprised me but we seemed straight away to come out with more fight and determination than in the first half ?

Fagan went close for us with a header and France started to attack more and more and it was his cross which was beautifully delivered which Burgess beat the challenge of Elliott (yes Stuart Elliott!) to head home and give us the equalizer which I would say based on our start to the second half we deserved ? from there we proceeded to generally dominate and Tranmere rarely got a look at goal for the second half ? we, on the other hand, had chances from Elliott and Burgess to take the lead but not a lot was going their way ? We made our first change and brought off Elliott for Duffy which meant Fagan reverting to right wing not before time and France switching to the left ? The game started to drift out of time and Welsh was brought on for Marney close to the end only for him to stupidly get booked almost straight away for a clumsy challenge ? The final whistle went and extra time it was to be ?

Full Time – Hull City 1-1 Tranmere Rovers

The beginning of extra time was not much to write home about, Parkin replaced the absolutely dead on his feet Burgess and started mixing it with the Tranmere team straight away ? Fagan had a chance which he put wide and that was about the only noticeable chance of the half ? They had a good chance when Welsh again conceded in a dangerous position and they wasted the opportunity from 25 yds out blasting over ?

Second half of extra time and we were all dreading penalties ? The players were tired and looked like it would need a piece of magic to win the game and Duffy delivered at last !! Out of almost no where he controlled a flick on and unleashed a 25 yd volley which the keeper had no chance with ? you could tell by his celebration how much that meant to him and from there he looked 100% more confident ? amazing what one goal can do for confidence ?

Towards the end of extra time Tranmere pushed for an equalizer and we were guilty I think of sitting back too deep although we weathered the storm and saw it through to the final whistle ? we have progressed in the cup for the first time in a long while and let`s hope if we have a home game a few more turn up to support the lads ?



Anyway Player Ratings

– Myhill – 6 ? Starting to get a bit concerned about Myhill to be honest, his kicking is getting worse than ever , he called for the corner and did not claim it on the Tranmere goal ? needs to buck his ideas up a little to get back to his best ?

– Dawson – 7 ? Captaincy is doing the lad good ? he is looking more and more assured each game and led the team fantastically throughout the game ? Made the runs that Elliott should have been doing and looked more relaxed when he had France in front of him ?

– Turner – 6 ? Low Key display and at times looked concerned when up against Zola especially ?

– Collins – 6 ? Nothing bad, nothing spectacular ? over all a sound defensive display ?

– Ricketts – 7 ? Defensively not much got past him, kept Ellison quiet when needed ? could improve going forward but looked good overall ? it will come in time I have no doubt ?

– France – 7 ? Played well again and covered all the midfield at times ?

– Marney – 6 ? Again did it all except his shooting is worryingly off target every time or very weak when on target ? showed he is well above the quality of league one though ?

– Livermore – 7 ? Looking a very assured signing and is what we cried out for all last season, simple play , sat in front of the back four and played it simple ? could maybe try and link up with Marney a little more maybe ?

– Elliott – 5 ? Very poor once again ? Did try to step it up in the second half but he has now looked of his depth against a league one outfit now even ? where has the old Stuart gone ???

– Fagan – 7 ? Industrious and battled well but I think that this game has proved that he is no striker as the difference in his and the teams play when he switched to the right wing was very noticeable ? him switching to the right improved Ricketts game also as they have started to build a good partnership down that right hand side ?

– Burgess – 5 ? Scored a goal (with the only player challenging him for the ball being the equally ineffective Elliott) but other than that did not do much at all in my opinion ? Match fitness is slowly becoming a washed up excuse and this lad needs to go out on loan and pronto ?

– Subs

– Duffy – 6 ? What a goal!! if the lad needed a goal this was the game to do it in and boy did he do it in style ? up until then though he looked a bit out of sorts but once that goal went in you could see instantly his game pick up ? let`s hope he can carry this on for the next game ?

– Parkin – 6 ? Mixed it up with the Tranmere players and good flick on for the goal but other than that did not make a massive impact …

– Welsh – 5 ? Was not very good I am afraid , tried to get stuck in but he showed his main problem at the minute by giving away risky fouls at the wrong time ?



Top Tiger ? Over the period of the full game it was a close run thing with Dawson, Ricketts and Livermore all vying for the MOM but I think for his simple no nonsense attitude I will give it to Livermore this game ?



Tigers Tail ? Burgess or Elliott both battled hard for this award, I will give it to Elliott though and save Burgess this one only because he scored a goal ?



Parky`s Performance ? 9/10 His half time talk was obviously a good one ? starting to gel the team together without making any major changes ? his substitutions were made at the right time and brought on the right people for the right people if you know what I mean ?



Ref Watch ? 6/10 Interesting the whole scenario for the first goal but was not overly silly with the whistle or dishing out yellow cards here there and everywhere ?



Crowd Watch ? 3/10 for attendance, very poor showing from the tigers faithful despite reduced prices and I found it quite funny the amount of people that left at half time and at half time of extra time, on a positive note though the ones that were there got behind the team as best they could ? let`s hope for a bigger attendance against Coventry on Saturday ?

–where to from here?



oventry at home and after their defeat to Hereford they will be looking to bounce back with a victory but hopefully we can build on the last couple of games and get three points against a team I think we are playing at the right time having lost their talisman to Birmingham last week ?