Hull City 2 West Brom 0: Long gets the vote as key man to survival prospects

Chairman Assem Allam, ahead of revealing last week that season ticket holders would be polled on the matter, had called on what he believes to be a “silent majority” to back his Hull Tigers plan.

Fans group ‘City Till We Die’, meanwhile, is working hard to ensure that the referendum follows similar unofficial votes in coming out against the name change. Such is the split among fans that no-one can truly be sure of the result, which will be announced after polling closes on Friday.

Had a ballot been held, however, among the 23,486 crowd at 5pm on Saturday as to whether West Bromwich Albion had dropped the clanger of the season in January by selling Shane Long to Hull City then chances are the vote would have been a landslide.

Not only did the Republic of Ireland international win the penalty that broke the deadlock in the Tigers’ favour but he also later produced a trademark clinical finish that effectively killed off any hope of the Baggies staging a fightback.

In doing so, Long became the East Riding club’s joint top scorer in the league on three goals. Add to that the striker having already provided a host of assists in a Hull shirt, there can be no doubting the coup Steve Bruce pulled off when capturing his main transfer window target for £6.5m.

Certainly, Long’s former team-mate – and England goalkeeper – Ben Foster wishes the Tigers striker was still at The Hawthorns.

He said: “It is not even hindsight (that letting Long leave was a mistake). He was one of our best players from the last couple of years and it is disappointing that he is no longer with us.

“He is a fantastic player and he can keep Hull up. As players, if you had asked us, we would have liked to have seen him stay.”

Long’s afternoon sadly ended in an ugly spat with a couple of foul-mouthed Albion fans that took place as he left via the KC main reception shortly after 6pm.

As the striker signed autographs for waiting City fans, the interlopers accused him of diving to win the first half penalty. Long disagreed and was told to ‘f*** off’ for his troubles. Thankfully, the idiotic Baggies fans, sporting fancy dress, left the area almost straight away.

A couple of minutes later, a different group of Albion supporters left the stadium and, on spotting Long, told him how disappointed they had been by the striker’s alleged actions. At this, an angry Long, carrying his clearly upset four-year-old daughter Teigan, strode off with his family.

It was an unfortunate end to what had been an otherwise perfect afternoon for City in their quest for Premier League survival as the gap between Bruce’s men and the bottom three was extended to eight points.

Not that the Tigers were at their best. Far from it, in fact, with the contest being a pretty even affair. The difference was that City possessed a ruthless streak when it mattered most.

The goals came in an eight-minute spell towards the end of the first half. First, the determination of Nikica Jelavic to keep the ball alive when it seemed to be heading out allowed Long to then capitalise on Craig Dawson napping when he should have been dealing with the danger.

Long, once in possession, took one touch before ending up sprawled on the turf. Referee Chris Foy took this as sufficient cause to award a penalty when the reality was that the City striker had tripped over his own foot.

Albion were understandably incensed with their 2,342 travelling fans pointing the finger at their former player. Long, though, never appealed and had merely got back to his feet to continue play when Foy pointed to the spot.

Jelavic stepped up and had his effort saved by Foster, who was then left frustrated as Liam Rosenior headed in the rebound to claim a first goal in almost four-and-a-half years.

City’s second came via Jake Livermore hooking the ball over his own shoulder and back into the Albion area, where Curtis Davies cushioned a header towards Long and the striker made no mistake with a clinical finish.

For Pepe Mel, beaten 3-0 in a pre-season friendly by Hull last August when in charge of Real Betis, there was to be no way back despite Albion taking the game to their hosts after half-time.

Rosenior had to be alert to keep out Victor Anichebe with a goal-line clearance, and James Morrison looked to have a good shout for a penalty turned down when barged to the floor by Livermore.

For all that, however, it was Hull – and, inevitably, Long – who came closest to finding the net in the second half with a stunning shot that flew beyond Foster only to then hit the inside of the post and bounce to safety.

All in all, therefore, a day to remember for the Tigers and, in particular, Rosenior, whose last goal before Saturday had come for Ipswich Town against Barnsley in October, 2009.

He said: “My family was here and the kids have finally got to see their dad score a goal. The crazy thing is I have had two kids (since I last scored) which is incredible. I have had more kids than goals in the last five years.

“The main thing is the team – it was the biggest win of the season for us. We dug in and I thought the two centre-halves were fantastic. I think both (Curtis Davies and James Chester) are good enough for international level.”