HULL TAKE BIG STEP TO SAFETY AS THEY WIN AT THE PALACE

CRYSTAL PALACE 0 HULL CITY 2

BY AYODELE ODUMADE AT SELHURST PARK

Hull City took a massive step towards preserving their place in the Premier League for another season as they beat Palace thanks to a brace of goals by Dame N’Doye.  Hull City have put in some good performances recently but have not had the rub of the green lately until today.

In the early stages of the game, Palace should have taken the lead. They were awarded a free kick for a foul on Wilfred Zaha. From the free kick, taken by Jason Puncheon, Hull failed to clear their lines and the ball fell to Palace’s man in form Glenn Murray but his shot from close range was saved by Steve Harper.

A whipped cross came in from Robbie Brady on the left and it seemed all N’Doye had to do was make contact with the ball to give Hull the lead. However what ensued was one of those ‘what happened next’ moments as he somehow cleared the ball out of touch like a defender.  However this moment was symptomatic of a team short of goals.

N’Doye broke down the right and put a delightful ball into the box, which Julian Speroni had to parry out, however the ball fell to Tom Huddlestone, who hit a pile driver, which was tipped round the post by the keeper.

Next it was Zaha’s turn to test the Hull City keeper with a shot but it was saved. A minute later a speculative ball was played into the Palace area, Damien Delaney slipped and was lucky Sone Aluko did not quite make good contact with the ball, which trickled wide.  That was a big let off for Palace. 

Just before the break, Zaha crossed the ball into the Hull area, but Murray could not guide his header to either side of Harper as he saved it. The game remained goalless at the break.

Just after the break, N’Doye got on the end of a cross by  Ahmed Elmohamady at the back post, but Speroni tipped his header round the post.  They would not wait much longer to take the lead. The ball came out to the left wing where it was met with Robbie Brady with a suspicion of handball. His shot was smothered by Speroni but it ricocheted to N’Doye who had the easiest of tap ins from close range to give Hull a lead and a massive boost to their battle to stay up.

Moments later N’Doye should have killed of the game as Huddlestone played him in, but his shot was just wide of the post. Hull city were in the ascendancy, as Palace could not get hold of the ball, as their passing turned sloppy .

Hull on the other hand continued to move the ball around, as Jake Livermore and Huddlestone were integral to all things Hull.  Gradually Palace started to worm their way back into the game but they could not quite create any clear-cut chances.

They thought they were level just before the end as substitute Yaya Sanogo headed the ball into the Hull net, but he was adjudged to have fouled McShane by tugging his shirt.

 Hull had another chance to kill off the game when Liam Rosenior hit a wonderful shot from distance, which clipped the top of the Palace cross bar.  N’Doye then hit a shot from close range, which was saved by Speroni.

Palace kept looking for the equalizer as Yannick Bolasie did a few tricks on the right and left two defenders behind and crossed the ball into the Hull area. However Dwight Gayle could not keep his shot down as he blazed it over the bar.

In stoppage time, Hull caught Palace cold on the counter attack as Gaston Ramirez broke away and found N’Doye in the Palace area.  N’Doye hit the ball across Speroni and into the net to make the game safe for Hull.  Steve Bruce who received stick from the Palace fans due to their past history let his boys do the talking for him. It was a well-deserved victory with attention to detail. No one would begrudge the Tigers for the performance they put into the game.

N’Doye’s performance was breath taking. On another day he could have scored four goals. Hull city would hope that those misses would not come back to haunt them.

The delighted Bruce said: “The reason why we are in the situation we are in is that we are not taking our chances. You do not create that many and when you do you have to take it. Thankfully today we have been able to take one, which will relieve the pressure. I thought from the first minute we took the ball and passed it well.  We have four out of five games at home and we know we have to get a win against one of the big teams. At home we have to produce a result let’s hope it is on Tuesday.  That is N’Doye’s 5^th goal in 12 matches. That is a good return.  I was pleased for the team and we were worthy winners.”