Cardiff 0 Hull City 4: Jelavic is benefiting quickly from link with Long

OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER’S 
response to Cardiff City’s humbling by Hull City was to cancel his side’s planned trip to Abu Dhabi for a spell of warm weather training.
Hull City's Nikica Jelavic scores to make it 3-0 against Cardiff City.Hull City's Nikica Jelavic scores to make it 3-0 against Cardiff City.
Hull City's Nikica Jelavic scores to make it 3-0 against Cardiff City.

As the Tigers players headed home from the Welsh capital on Saturday night, however, they were unaware of the change of plan that the Bluebirds’ heaviest home defeat in almost 14 years had brought about.

So, as the Hull squad boarded a plane bound for Humberside Airport, they could have been forgiven for wishing it was they and not Cardiff who were destined for a few days in the Middle East sunshine rather than tonight having to take on Brighton & Hove Albion on what is sure to be a cold Yorkshire evening.

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The opposite, though, was true with the Tigers displaying no envy as they headed north. Instead, there was a clear spring in the step of all those sporting the club’s amber and black tracksuits as they basked in a potentially season-defining win in south Wales that means Premier League survival is now within touching distance.

With 11 games to play, Hull have already matched the 30-point tally that the club went down with in 2010. Twelve months earlier, they stayed up with just five points more.

Better still, the victory in Cardiff – achieved thanks to a double from Nikica Jelavic that was sandwiched by strikes from Tom Huddlestone and Jake Livermore – was their eighth of the season.

With manager Bruce adamant that 10 wins will be enough to beat the drop then it is surely going to take a Devon Loch-style collapse for the East Riding not to be hosting top-flight football once again come August.

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Heady days, indeed, then for a club whose big spending in the January transfer window looks to have made all the difference to their prospects.

Shane Long was one half of the £14m strike duo brought in by Bruce last month and he admits he is relishing his new life in Hull.

“The lads are in their first year in the Premier League so there is a real excitement about the place,” said the Republic of Ireland striker in the wake of a fine display that saw him play a major role in Hull’s first three goals in the principality.

“I love being able to tap into that sense of excitement. There is a great feeling about the club, too. It is somewhere that everyone gets on with each other. There are no cliques or anything like that.

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“I am particularly enjoying playing with ‘Jela’. There is still work to do (on the partnership) but so far, so good for both of us.

“We are working well. I said to ‘Jela’ after his second goal, ‘We have to get you your hat-trick now’. But he replied, ‘No, no, we have to get you a goal’. I thought that was great and said a lot. It is what a good partnership is all about.”

As well as settling into his new surrounds following a £6.5m switch from West Brom, Long has also had to contend with becoming a father for the second time.

Wife Kayleah gave birth to daughter Erin earlier this month and the Hull striker admits the new arrival has made life both that bit more enjoyable and hectic.

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“It is great to be a dad again,” he said. “You forget how small they are. Having the family at home makes everything worthwhile.

“I am also lucky that my wife does the feeds during the night. She knows that I need my sleep for training and playing.”

Following Hull’s win in Wales, Long – or any of his team-mates, for that matter – is unlikely to be losing any sleep over the relegation fight.

Not after the manner in which Hull, after a slow start that saw Allan McGregor twice called into action to keep out Kenwyne Jones and Wilfred Zaha, inflicted possibly terminal damage on Cardiff’s own survival bid.

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There was a clinical edge to the visitors’ play that has largely been missing this term. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the four goals that Hull scored.

The first came on 18 minutes courtesy of a wonderful one-two between Jelavic and Long. The Croat, finding himself eight yards from goal at the end of the interchange of passes, then showed tremendous presence of mind to skilfully step inside the last defender before hitting a shot that goalkeeper David Marshall somehow kept out with one hand.

As the home fans roared their approval, Livermore ensured the chance would not go begging by reacting first to claim the ball on the edge of the area. He then squared a pass to Huddlestone, whose fierce drive took a deflection en route to nestling in the bottom corner of the net.

If that was good, Hull’s second goal on 38 minutes was even better. Jelavic and Long were again heavily involved, the Croat once again swapping passes with his Irish team-mate before collecting the return and drilling a fine shot beyond Marshall.

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Jelavic’s second goal just before the hour was another thing of beauty, Long’s awareness to make a darting run down the right and then subsequent cross-field ball to Liam Rosenior opening up the Cardiff defence.

Rosenior, after looking up, then delivered an enticing cross that was just begging Jelavic to head beyond Marshall, which is exactly what he did, from eight yards.

This was the cue for hundreds of Bluebirds fans to head for home. It meant they missed the afternoon’s fourth goal midway through the second half, Livermore this time firing in from the edge of the area after Ahmed 
Elmohamady had latched on to a dreadful mistake by Andrew Taylor to race 40 yards down the right flank.

Bruce’s 100th win as a Premier League manager was sealed, as was Cardiff’s heaviest loss on home soil since Cambridge United won at Ninian Park by the same scoreline in April, 2000.

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For the Tigers, it meant attention could turn to not only tonight’s Cup tie but also, according to Long, a possible top-half finish.

He said: “My next game is Newcastle. Of course, the lads have the Cup and it will be just my luck that the lads get to Wembley and I will have to watch from the stands.

“Seriously, though, I hope they can go all the way. It would be brilliant for the team and for the club.”

Cardiff City: Marshall; Fabio, Caulker, Cala, Taylor (John 75); Noone, Cowie, Eikrem, Zaha (Daehli 46); Campbell (Berget 79), Jones. Unused substitutes: Lewis, Turner, Whittingham, Gunarsson.

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Hull City: McGregor; Bruce (Chester 70), Davies, Figueroa; Elmohamady, Livermore, Huddlestone (Boyd 62), Meyler, Rosenior; Long (Quinn 76), Jelavic.Unused substitutes: Harper, Koren, Sagbo, Aluko.

Referee: Howard Webb (S Yorkshire)