Stumbling over line not good enough for Hull City's Curtis Davies

ALL AROUND Curtis Davies was the sense of jubilation that invariably accompanies booking a trip to Wembley.
DEMANDING MORE: Hull City's Curtis Davies. Picture: Tony JohnsonDEMANDING MORE: Hull City's Curtis Davies. Picture: Tony Johnson
DEMANDING MORE: Hull City's Curtis Davies. Picture: Tony Johnson

Thousands of Hull City fans had poured on to the KC Stadium pitch the moment referee Michael Oliver had brought an end to proceedings on Tuesday night to confirm an all-Yorkshire Championship play-off final showdown with Sheffield Wednesday.

A flare was let off and amber smoke quickly filled the air along with excited chants about promotion and the prospect of taking on the Owls, but Davies’ stoney expression amid the chaos betrayed his true feelings.

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Hull had dodged a bullet and the defender knew it. The Tigers had flirted with the most embarrassing collapse in play-off history before finally emerging from a second leg dominated by the Rams with a 3-2 aggregate win.

Abel Hernandez at full-timeAbel Hernandez at full-time
Abel Hernandez at full-time

“We stumbled over the line, which you never want to do,” admitted Davies when speaking to The Yorkshire Post in the wake of Derby’s 2-0 triumph at the KC Stadium.

“We wanted to try and put on a show. We knew Derby would come out and go for it but we couldn’t deal with it. It was a cup game and we have eventually seen ourselves through. But, if you had have seen my face as I was coming off the pitch at the end, it was far from a happy one.

“Ultimately, we have lost a game of football in a very bad manner and we need to be much better than that if we are going to win the play-offs.”

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After carving out a three-goal first-leg lead courtesy of a polished display at the Ipro the previous Saturday, City’s place in world football’s richest game seemed assured.

Abel Hernandez at full-timeAbel Hernandez at full-time
Abel Hernandez at full-time

Derby, though, had other ideas and an early strike by Johnny Russell plus an Andrew Robertson own goal soon had the alarm bells ringing all around the KC.

No team in play-off history had ever surrendered a three-goal first leg deficit but, with just 36 minutes on the clock, the Tigers looked a good bet to do just that.

Craig Bryson should have levelled the tie on aggregate shortly after half-time but made a hash of his finish and, in the end, this was the let-off that proved crucial for the Tigers.

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“Mentally, it was one of the toughest games I have played in,” said Davies, after City had booked a fourth trip to Wembley in eight years. “Particularly in the second half, when we were 2-0 down after giving ourselves such a great platform at Derby in the first leg.

“Disappointing isn’t the word to describe it. I was shocked. We let ourselves down in that first half hour.

“You start thinking to yourself that we have given them 60 minutes to get another goal. Are we going to turn up? Or are we going to fold?

“We couldn’t get the goal to slow them down and knock their confidence but, in the end, we did show character and resilience to see the game out and get into the play-off final.”

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Hull’s unexpected struggles in the second leg were similar to those endured by Wednesday the previous night at Brighton & Hove Albion.

Two goals to the good thanks to a fine performance at Hillsborough, the Owls were, like the Tigers, a pale shadow of themselves in the opening half hour on the south coast.

Had the Seagulls got the reward their impressive approach play merited in those one-sided exchanges then it could easily have been Chris Hughton plotting for Wembley this week and not Carlos Carvalhal.

As it is, the first all-Yorkshire Championship play-off final lays in wait as City and Wednesday stand potentially 90 minutes from the Premier League.

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For Davies, May 28 will be his third visit to Wembley with Hull. The first of those came against the Owls’ Steel City rivals, United, in the 2014 FA Cup semi-final.

Victory brought a first appearance in a major final, where Bruce’s men coming agonisingly close to lifting the Cup in a terrific encounter with Arsenal that saw the Gunners fight back from two goals down to triumph 3-2 after extra-time.

Losing in such a manner came as a devastating blow for Hull, though this was tempered by the pride of knowing just what a big contribution Bruce’s men had made to one of the all-time classic finals.

Come Saturday week, however, and it is not walking out at Wembley once again that interests Davies, but emerging victorious.

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“I am not trying to take that away but the bigger picture is getting back in the Premier League,” added the 31-year-old, who recently signed a new contract extension at the KC.

“Wembley is a day out. But we don’t want a day out, we want to get in the Premier League.

“The day out can be for the fans, that is fine. But, as players, we want to be back testing ourselves against the best players in the world.

“We are at Wembley but I couldn’t care if the game was played at Boothferry Park or wherever. We just want to go and win that game to be back in the Premier League.”