Hull daring to live the dream
Another victory yesterday — their fifth of a fairytale season — cemented the club’s place in the top three and was sealed with enough swagger and solidity to suggest they might just stay there a little longer.
Phil Brown, the club’s jubilant manager, admitted his players were “dancing in the dressing room” after Michael Turner’s winner, which at least proves the players are not growing nonchalant at such success, but it is surely not too early to declare that those who treated Hull’s immediate return to the Championship as a mere formality may have to look elsewhere for their fall-guys — Tottenham, perhaps, or maybe Everton and Newcastle.
Turner rose highest to head home a 51st-minute corner and secure his side’s third consecutive win against a capital club, after previous back-to-back away wins at Arsenal and Tottenham.
Brown said: “There’s people dancing in the dressing room so we don’t have to do a warm-down any more. It’s a good atmosphere at the moment and long may it continue.
“But I think we’ve got to provide a little bit more quality on the ball because we can’t survive on set-pieces alone this season.
“My biggest problem before the game was maintaining the success. People were talking about bubbles bursting but my simple answer to a bubble bursting is to blow another bubble.”
Brown hailed Turner, magnificent yet again at the heart of his defence, but described calls in some quarters for the 24-year-old to get an England call as “unrealistic”, adding: “He’s not a Premier League player yet.
“Michael’s attracting a lot of attention for his performances with clean sheets and winning goals. But he couldn’t do that without his partnership in defence and the midfield in front of him.
“Where Michael is concerned he’ll keep his feet on the ground because he’s got good staff around him, and if he does get called up he’ll get all the support he needs.”
For West Ham, the optimism generated by a perky start to the season and the appointment of new manager Gianfranco Zola is beginning to fade and die like those bubbles their fans sing about so often. Zola insisted his side deserved to take something from the game but admitted his strikers needed to start making the most of their chances.
Carlton Cole and Matthew Etherington were both guilty of missing good opportunities and Zola said: “When we create chances and play the way we’re playing we need to score and we didn’t do that.
“Right now that’s the missing part of this team and we need to work on finishing because we’re creating a lot. It’s down to the players but I totally trust their ability and I’m sure we’ll get it right soon.”
Zola went on to question referee Chris Foy’s decision to disallow a first-half effort from Herita Ilunga, who nicked the ball from Bo Myhill as he was taking a goal-kick, then overhead-kicked it into the net. Zola added: “I spoke to the referee and he said it was dangerous play. I’m not convinced about that because he didn’t touch anybody. But apart from that we had other occasions when we could have done better.
“I don’t think we deserved to come out of that game with nothing today. But that’s football – sometimes it’s not very logical. It’s hard and disappointing but we can’t do anything about it.”
HULL (4-3-1-2): Myhill 6, McShane 6, Turner 8, Zayatte 7, Dawson 7, Marney 8, Ashbee 7, Boateng 7 (Hughes 71, 5), Geovanni 6 (Halmosi 73, 5), King 6, Cousin 6 (Garcia 82, 5).
Subs Not Used: Duke, Mendy, Ricketts, Folan.
WEST HAM (4-3-3): Green 6, Faubert 6 (Di Michele 73, 5), Neill 6, Upson 5, Ilunga 6, Behrami 6, Parker 6, Noble 6, Bellamy 5, Cole 6, Etherington 5 (Sears 82, 5).
Subs Not Used: Boa Morte, Lastuvka, Mullins, Davenport, Lopez.
REFEREE: Chris Foy (Merseyside) 6: Generally sound, and had little choice but to disallow West Ham’s goal, for all Zola’s complaints.
MATCH RATING: *** Not one of the season’s more memorable encounters, but Hull’s story is assuming fairytale proportions.
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