Stoke 1 Hull City 0: Tigers’ appetite for fight must be restored

The Tigers remain four points clear of trouble at the foot of the Premier League despite Peter Crouch settling a truly dire game in favour of Stoke City with a second-half header.

Hull were a pale shadow of the side that had taken seven points from three previous games in February with Steve Bruce’s side taking until the ‘91st minute’ on Saturday to force their first corner of the afternoon.

Potters goalkeeper Asmir Begovic also did not have a save to make against a toothless Tigers outfit that was without top scorer Nikica Jelavic due to an ongoing knee problem, which prevents the Croat from playing two games in four days.

With Sunderland, one of four sides in the bottom six to lose over the weekend, due at the KC tomorrow, Bruce clearly wanted Hull’s eight-goal striker fit to face Gus Poyet’s men in a game that Elmohamady insists could prove pivotal in the scrap for survival.

“We went to Stoke determined to take something from the game, but it wasn’t meant to be,” said the Egyptian, who is Hull’s only ever-present in the league this term.

“It was disappointing, as with the other teams losing this was a missed opportunity.

“The day was not easy with the wind and the rain but now we have to look to Tuesday and a game that I consider to be a cup final for us. It is a massive game.

“The gaffer had a word with us afterwards (in the dressing room) and it was him who said it was like a cup final. He is right. Sunderland is what you call a six-pointer game.

“We have a good record against Sunderland. We have won three times in the league and also beat them in the FA Cup last year. But in football anything can happen so we must keep our focus and concentrate.”

Hull’s record against the Black Cats under Bruce is, indeed, exemplary. Four wins in four meetings is something any manager would be delighted to boast, never mind one that was harshly sacked on Wearside eight months before taking charge of Hull.

If the Tigers’ chief is to go nap against his old club tomorrow, however, there will have to be a big improvement on the largely lifeless show at the Britannia.

Without Jelavic or Dame N’Doye, rested to the bench 
after flying to Senegal and Russia last week, the attacking onus fell to Sone Aluko as a lone frontman with Gaston Ramirez urged to get forward in support as often as possible.

The ploy did not work, with Aluko often dropping so deep in the first half that Hull seemed to be operating a 3-5-2-0 formation.

With little or no outlet up front, they struggled to keep the ball and, as a result, Stoke were able to dominate possession.

Not that it did the Potters much good, with their own play being so laboured and predictable that 
Allan McGregor had few scares in a truly wretched first half.

Stoke did appeal for a penalty when Phil Bardsley fell to the ground under a challenge from Aluko on the half-hour, but replays showed the Nigeria international got the ball.

But, otherwise, the best Mark Hughes’s men could offer in those tepid opening 45 minutes was a flicked header from Jonathan Walters that was going wide before Jake Livermore cleared and a miscued volley by Stephen Ireland that McGregor collected easily.

Matters improved marginally for Stoke after the break as substitute Charlie Adam twice whistled long-range efforts just wide.

Even so, as the game moved into the final quarter, a goalless draw looked the most likely outcome only for Crouch to come off the bench and take just 61 seconds to head in Adam’s inviting cross.

Hull had squandered the game’s best opening by the time Crouch put Stoke ahead, Aluko having fired wide on 20 minutes with just Begovic to beat after cleverly engineering an opening.

It took until the final stages for any semblance of pressure to be exerted by Hull as Hernandez raced 50 yards before having his cross blocked and then Paul McShane looked to latch on to Michael Dawson’s knock-down only for Bardsley to be alert to the danger.

McShane being denied that ‘93rd-minute’ shooting opportunity meant Stoke could be filed away with the trips to Burnley and West Brom as dire games with little or nothing in them that Hull still contrived to lose 1-0.

The challenge is to make amends against Sunderland and when the Tigers go to bottom club Leicester City on March 14.

Win those two fixtures and Hull will be well on their way to delivering the points tally that manager Bruce believes will be enough to keep his team up.

The Tigers’ chief, who could be without Robbie Brady for several weeks with a calf injury, said: “We have to do what we have to do. It is an accumulation of points. We still need to get up to that magical figure, 38 or 40 points.

“We have got 11 games to go and we need to get 12 points. Results have gone for us this weekend and that’s good. I am sure we can still win enough. We have still got enough about us to get to safety.”

Stoke City: Begovic; Bardsley, Wollscheid, Wilson, Pieters; NZonzi, Whelan; Walters, Ireland (Adam 46), Moses; Diouf (Crouch 70). Unused substitutes: Butland, Arnautovic, Cameron, Sidwell, Teixeira.

Hull City: McGregor; Dawson, Bruce, McShane; Elmohamady, Livermore, Huddlestone, Meyler (Quinn 61); Figueroa (Hernandez 78); Ramirez, Aluko (N’Doye 56). Unused substitutes: Harper, Davies, Sagbo, Robertson.

Referee: N Swarbrick (Lancs).