Hull City 0 Cardiff City 2: Tigers suffer home defeat

HULL CITY suffered only their second defeat in 19 Championship outings as second half strikes by Michael Chopra and Jay Emanuel-Thomas earned a potentially vital win for Cardiff City, writes Richard Sutcliffe.

By The Newsroom

Published 26th Feb 2011, 19:01 BST

City’s defeat means they remain five points adrift of sixth placed Leeds United, who crashed 3-0 to Swansea City earlier in the day.

The breakthrough came on 65 minutes courtesy of awful marking by the Tigers defence that meant Chopra was unmarked when he sweetly met Kevin McNaughton’s cross.

Nigel Pearson’s response was to bring on Nicky Barmby and the former England international wasted a golden chance to equalise by chipping the ball over the crossbar with just goalkeeper Tom Heaton to beat.

Cardiff then rounded off the win with a stoppage time strike by former Doncaster Rovers loanee Jay Emanuel-Thomas who showed great skill and a cool head to flick the ball over the defence twice before beating Brad Guzan at his near post.