Flat Blues surrender another lead

A Hull side who rarely threatened to breach our defence this afternoon escaped with a point from a generally lacklustre game at Eastlands. The odd moment of flowing football couldn't mask an otherwise poor and blunt performance. A deflected Shaun Wright-Phillips strike as most fans were looking forward to half-time was cancelled out by a Jimmy Bullard penalty.

Robinho, whose last appearance came in the League Cup win at Crystal Palace, came in for Craig Bellamy. Gareth Barry didn't make the matchday squad, Carlos Tevez stepping up from the bench. Micah Richards replaced Pablo Zabaleta at right-back, but otherwise we were unchanged. For Hull, Bullard replaced George Boateng, otherwise it was the side that beat Everton midweek, with former Blue Geovanni taking his place in a five-man midfield.

The opening twenty minutes were especially drab, moves leading to corners which were inevitably wasted, rarely beating the first man, about as close as we got, whilst at the other end defending was at a minimum, Micah Richards falling asleep when he might've been better advised dealing with a Richard Garcia cross. The odd stepover by Robinho not leading anywhere fast, and a Richards cross clipping off Stevie Ireland and going over the bar the only thing we could technically deem a chance.

From then until the break we did at least up the tempo, Robinho sending McShane one way and the other before curling a right-footed effort just wide of Duke's far post. Shortly after Carlos Tevez tested the former Burton 'keeper, forcing him into a save with his feet following a throughball from Emmanuel Adebayor. Robinho also put a speculative overhead kick over the bar.

A busy couple of minutes for full-back Richards followed, making an important last-ditch challenge to stop Hunt getting a shot away, then looping a header onto the top of the net from a SWP corner at the other end. On the half-hour a tremendous move almost resulted in a Goal of the Season contender, Robinho turning and finding Tevez who sprayed the ball out to Adebayor on the left, his dink infield ran to Ireland who spotted SWP in space on the right, but the flowing move sadly didn't come with a suitable finish.

Andy Dawson was booked for a tackle on SWP, winning the ball but having challenged from behind. Minutes later Micah Richards picked up a knock in a coming-together with Hunt, possibly his right knee. It looked like it might be the end of his day but with Nedum Onuoha stripped and ready to come on he returned to action. A half-hearted long-range attempt from Geovanni was the only other notable thing that happened as the half was set to end goalless.

Halfway through two additional injury time minutes, however, we nosed infront, with Wright-Phillips, as with the last home fixture, getting a goal with the help of a deflection. Tevez had picked the ball up in the centre circle, running at Hull and knocking out to the little England winger. Running past Hunt, who along with Garcia on the right had generally been doing a really good job of helping his full-back out, Shaun unleashed a shot which brushed Anthony Gardner's head and looped past Duke.

Within minutes of the restart Hull could have been on level terms, Hunt's hopeful hook over the defence led to Altidore outmuscling Richards and squaring for Garcia at the far post. Looking certain to score, it was only a goal line clearance from Joleon Lescott that kept us ahead, whilst at the other end Wright-Phillips had an appeal for a penalty turned down by referee Lee Probert, taking on two defenders before Hunt got his challenge in, just about fairly.

Adebayor and Kamil Zayette were both lucky to not get at least booked for stamps soon after. The Togolese forward raking McShane, then the Hull centre-half appearing to be looking for some retribution. The £25m signing from Arsenal also almost got an assist to his name, finding SWP after another silky move involving Tevez but him having his shot blocked. Nigel de Jong picked up his customary yellow card for a lunge on Dean Marney.

Wright-Phillips, who again seemed to improve after the break, was making more of an impression. He again forced Hunt into a challenge, which also seemed fair but we'll take them, Robinho not able to hit the target with the resulting free-kick. Roque Santa Cruz was then introduced, making his fourth appearance from the bench so far this season, Emmanuel Adebayor making way.

Zayette was finally booked after pushing the officials all afternoon, and Robinho went close with an attempt similar to the one in the first half, picking up the ball to the left of goal, turning onto his preferred right peg and curling wide of the upright. He was replaced by Craig Bellamy a couple of minutes later, but had shown glimpses of being his usual lively self.

Hull, having done relatively little all afternoon, did start to pressure us during the final fifteen minutes. Firstly, though McShane's effort was high, wide and not so handsome, him and Hunt had been afforded far too much space. Bullard also drove at our defence a couple of times but couldn't finish. In the 81st minute Kolo Toure, who had just galloped the full length of the pitch in search of a second, dragged Garcia down in the box and the referee awarded a penalty. Not sure it was that dubious, really, some refs will give them, some won't, no real complaints.

Bullard, who had looked their most likely to make a difference all day, and whose return has inspired their mini undefeated run, made no mistake from the spot, smashing high into Given's net. Small chuckle of the afternoon, afterwards anyway, maybe not at the time, as the former Fulham midfielder mimicked Phill Brown's half-time team-talk from last season's fixture. As disappointing as the goal was to concede, we've got to have a sense of humour about these things, eh?

Though we did get a couple of chances late on; Micah Richards well wide with a free header, and Carlos Tevez hitting the wall with a free-kick after Ireland was felled in a promising position, we knew we were heading for a seventh successive draw, and although we were the better side for pretty much all of the match, a lack of real penetration in the final third meant that we had no real excuses. Another gloomy day at the office, it'll take a big improvement to beat Arsenal, even if they put their kids out.

Team:
Given, Richards, Bridge, Toure, Lescott, de Jong, Wright-Phillips, Ireland, Tevez, Adebayor (Santa Cruz '68), Robinho (Bellamy '76)