Hull City 3 - Everton 2

by Paul Gorst. Published Thu 26 Nov 2009 13:36

Everton slumped to their second defeat in five days, as Hull City overcame the Blues 3-2 at the KC Stadium last night.

A second half fightback was not enough for the Blues, who were three goals down in the first half hour.

There was some positive team names for the fans who had made the trip to Humberside with Steven Pienaar unexpectedly starting on the left side of midfield.

Manager David Moyes paired Yakubu up front with Louis Saha, and Jack Rodwell started right midfield to give stand-in skipper Tim Cahill his favoured central role.

It took the Tigers just ten minutes to establish the lead.

On-loan American striker Jozy Altidore forced his compatriot Tim Howard into a close range save but the rebound fell to Stephen Hunt who smashed it into the net.

Howard was forced to pick the ball out of the net again ten minutes later.

Andy Dawson’s fantastic freekick swerved away from Howard into the top corner to double the lead for Phil Brown’s men.

The shell-shocked Blues were three down eight minutes later.

Hunt’s inviting cross was cut out well by Sylvain Distin, but the ball fell invitingly to Dean Marney whose shot took a deflection off Cahill before nestling in the bottom corner.

Less than a minute into the second half, Moyes replaced Yakubu with 19 year-old Dan Gosling. The versatile youngster went right side with Rodwell moving back into central midfield. Cahill was given the freedom to operate further forward behind Louis Saha, and within five minutes, they had clawed a goal back.

Johnny Heitinga’s left wing cross was met by Kamil Zayatte, but his sliced clearance arched over Hull ‘keeper Matt Duke to make it 3-1.

Zayatte was at fault again for Everton’s second as he recklessly hauled down Saha in the area, after Cahill had put the Frenchman in with a ball over the top.

Saha dusted himself off to send the penalty into the bottom corner on 65 minutes.

With the Blues looking to complete an extraordinary turnaround, Rodwell was replaced by Jo with half an hour left. The Brazilian took an unfamiliar role on the left side, and Pienaar was moved into central midfield as Everton searched for the equaliser.

A goalmouth scramble left Duke clutching desperately on to the ball, and Leighton Baines’ late freekick struck the wall, but ultimately Everton lacked the creativity to claim the equaliser.

HULL CITY (4-4-1-1): Duke; McShane, Zayatte, Gardner, Dawson; Garcia (Barmby 78), Boateng, Marney, Hunt; Geovanni (Kilbane 87); Altidore (Vennegoor of Hesselink 75). Subs: Myhill, Mouyokolo. Ghilas, Cairney.

BOOKINGS: Zayette.

EVERTON (4-4-2): Howard; Neill, Distin, Yobo, Baines; Rodwell (Jo 60), Cahill, Heitinga, Pienaar; Saha, Yakubu (Gosling 46). Subs: Nash, Hibbert, Coleman, Duffy, Baxter.
BOOKINGS: Pienaar, Heitinga, Neill, Cahill.

REFEREE: Martin Atkinson.

ATTENDANCE: 24,685.