Hull City 1 Stoke City 1: Sense of injustice as City’s progress is checked

A WEEKEND of mixed emotions for Steve Bruce and Hull City.
Nikica Jelavic slides in Hull's opener against Stoke. (Picture: Tony Johnson)Nikica Jelavic slides in Hull's opener against Stoke. (Picture: Tony Johnson)
Nikica Jelavic slides in Hull's opener against Stoke. (Picture: Tony Johnson)

On the field, a wretched decision by referee Jon Moss left the Tigers chief last night bemoaning the “injustice” of seeing his ten-man side cruelly denied all three points while praising the “tremendous” efforts of his players.

Off it, meanwhile, Bruce’s mixed bag of a bank holiday continued with the news Michael Dawson, a major transfer target for much of the summer, had agreed “in principle” a switch to the KC Stadium being offset by a move for Jordan Rhodes having stalled.

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“I thought I had Jordan 24 hours ago,” said the City manager after watching his side be pegged back by a late equaliser from Ryan Shawcross.

“But now it seems to be further away than it has ever been and we have been negotiating for a week.”

Asked if that meant Blackburn Rovers had closed the door on a deal for a striker they rate in the £12-14m bracket, Bruce replied: “We don’t know 100 per cent just yet. We will have to wait and see.”

Bruce may yet, of course, sign Rhodes, the tale of modern day football being littered with clubs who slap a ‘not for sale’ tag on their star player only to then sanction a deal when another million or so materialises.

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What won’t change, however, is the sense of injustice felt by Hull over yesterday’s 83rd-minute equaliser, which came immediately after Moss had wrongly awarded a throw-in to the visitors when the ball had clearly come off a Stoke leg.

Bruce said: “Given the circumstances, you would accept a point if down to ten men after 15 minutes.

“However, we feel an injustice. When you see how blatant it is, I just cannot understand how the three officials can’t get together and get it right.

“The crowd knew it was, so did Stoke. Their player ran away and didn’t even want to take the throw-in. Surely that is an indication for the referee or the linesman that it must have hit a Stoke player.

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“It wasn’t just a slight deflection, either. Everyone in the ground must have seen it, apart from the three officials.

“The consequence is because it was our throw, we weren’t set up the way we should be.”

Bruce’s anger at the final whistle was understandable. He is unlikely to have been too pleased, either, with the way his side lived dangerously from the start with James Chester grateful to hear the referee blow for a foul as Mame Diouf advanced on goal after dispossessing the Tigers defender inside three minutes.

Not long after, City had another let-off as Steven N’Zonzi opted to release Diouf, who was clearly standing offside, rather than take the eminently more sensible option of controlling the ball to give himself a clear run on goal following a mix-up by Curtis Davies and Chester.

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Unlike three days earlier in Belgium when Allan McGregor kicked a clearance straight at Lokeren’s Hans Vanaken for what proved to be the game’s only goal, City got away with those first two indiscretions.

The third, however, proved fatal for Chester’s own involvement as, after being sold short by an under-hit pass from Jake Livermore, the Hull central defender dived in on the advancing Glenn Whelan.

A split second late, Chester brought the former Sheffield Wednesday midfielder crashing down and referee Jon Moss reached straight for the red card. “No qualms over that decision, we all know the rules,” said Bruce.

The momentum had swung Stoke’s way with Hull’s response being to retreat deep into their own territory and leave Nikica Jelavic as a lone frontman.

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And while the Croatian may have many attributes, including – as he proved just before half-time – an eye for goal, he is not the type of all-action forward who hustles opponents into mistakes.

As a consequence, Stoke dominated possession.

However, while much of the action was played out in the hosts’ half of the field, McGregor did not have a save to make during the first half as the wall of amber and black in front of the Scot held firm.

That meant when the Tigers enjoyed a rare foray forward three minutes before the break that ended with Jelavic finishing superbly from a tight angle after Asmir Begovic had only been able to parry a shot from Tom Huddlestone, it was Bruce’s men who suddenly had the advantage.

Any hopes, however, among the 24,348 crowd that this may shatter any sense of belief Stoke had were soon dispelled in the second half.

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Playing with much more potency than in the opening 45 minutes, the Potters – with Bojan Krkic to the fore – penned back Hull, who were glad to have McGregor back on top form.

First, the Tigers goalkeeper got down smartly to hold on to a Shawcross shot after the Scot’s team-mates had been caught napping by Marko Arnautovic’s free-kick.

Then, McGregor saved brilliantly at the feet of Diouf before he saved the best for the last of a trio of vital saves by tipping over a Charlie Adam’s ferociously hit shot from 25 yards. Another save to deny Bojan, suggested the Tigers may hold out only for Shawcross to bundle the ball over the line in the wake of Moss wrongly awarding a throw-in to Stoke.

It meant a disappointing end to what had been a heartening effort by City, who hope to conclude the deal to sign Tottenham Hotspur defender Dawson today.

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That should, at least, bring a smile back to the face of Bruce, especially with Chester now ruled out of next Sunday’s visit to Aston Villa in the Premier League.

The Hull chief added: “We will see what this week brings.

“We want to bring in the two or three as we need to give the 
squad a hand because we have already played five competitive games.”