Premier League - Hull compound Spurs' misery

Eurosport - Mon, 06 Oct 08:17:00 2008

Premier League new boys Hull City completed a memorable week by beating Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 at White Hart Lane.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Premier League Tottenham-Hull City - 0

Brazilian winger Geovanni was the hero once again, rifling a superb free-kick from all of 35 yards straight into the top corner. Tottenham carved out enough chances to win the game, with the best falling to Jonathan Woodgate, but he could only find the woodwork, while Spurs' three strikers all misfired again.

At the other end, Hull almost benefited from more awful defending, with Dean Marney striking a post and Marlon King missing a one-on-one with Heurelho Gomes.

Juande Ramos' side remain rooted to the bottom of the table, while Phil Brown and his Hull side can look at the table from the dizzy heights of third position.

If there was a nervous atmosphere around the capacity crowd at White Hart Lane after the team's poor start to the season, it did not seem to affect Aaron Lennon, who tore into Hull right from the kick-off, and won the home side a corner, from which Gareth Bale had a snap-shot cleared off the line.

It wasn't long before alarm bells were ringing in the Spurs defence though, as a flick-on from Daniel Cousin fell to Geovanni, only for the Brazilian to blaze over with only his compatriot Gomes to beat.

The frenetic pace and shambolic defending from both sides continued, and Roman Pavlyuchenko was the next to have the goal open up in front of him, though he saw his shot saved by Boaz Myhill after a cross from Lennon had caused a scramble in the Hull area.

There seemed to be little concern around the home fans when Vedran Corluka went straight into the back of King to concede a free-kick, such was the distance from goal, but those who remembered Geovanni's wonder strike against Arsenal had due cause to worry. The Brazilian stepped up and rifled the ball straight into the top corner with Gomes rooted firmly to the spot.

The pace and trickery of the elusive Lennon kept alive the home fans' hope of a quick equaliser, though their sieve-like defence ensured Hull looked just as likely to grab a second goal - never more so than when a sharp turn on the edge of the area from Marney somehow saw him with time to pick out the bottom corner, though he dropped to his knees with head in hands as the ball rebounded away off the inside of the post, Gomes once again beaten.

Gareth Bale then showed his own dead-ball prowess, forcing Myhill to tip a superbly-struck free-kick from long distance onto the cross bar.

Pavlyuchenko, who has earlier landed heavily on his right knee, was replaced by Darren Bent on 35 minutes, before Spurs' best chance of the half fell to Woodgate. A superb pull-back from Lennon found the big defender unmarked 15 yards out, but his volley was deflected onto the post and away.

For a man that commanded a hefty Ł16 million transfer fee, Luka Modric has been decidedly anonymous so far in his short Tottenham career, though he gave a glimpse of his undoubted talent as he chipped a glorious ball over the defence for Bent to race onto, though the striker saw his delicate chip round Myhill roll agonisingly past the post.

Frazier Campbell headed wide before David Bentley was also off-target with a vicious right foot shot, while Didier Zokora also picked out the increasingly frustrated North Stand with a long-range effort.

After a neat exchange between Lennon and Bent it finally it seemed to have opened up for Bent on the penalty spot, but he then took an unnecessary touch to bring the ball onto his favoured right-foot, allowing Paul McShane the time to get across and make the block.

For all Spurs' huffing and puffing, neither Bent nor Campbell looked like they were about to pull out the all-important equaliser, and it could have got even worse for Spurs when Marlon King raced through on goal, though Gomes saved well with his feet.

Giovani dos Santos was brought on to replace Lennon, though Spurs' creativity seemed to disappear along with the little winger, and Hull were able to make it a second memorable trip to North London for their noisy band of travelling fans in the space of a week.

Mick Fitzgerald / Eurosport

Comment 49 - 68 of 68

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  1. lol kokhong1993 mayb you should become manager........your english is about as bad as his!!

    From Wayne, on Mon 6 Oct 10:56AM
  2. but i hope ramos can still incharge Tottenham .... =(

    From kokhong1993, on Mon 6 Oct 10:42AM
  3. I will be very surprised if Ramos is still manager the next time we play!!

    From Wayne, on Mon 6 Oct 9:46AM
  4. Well done again Hull! Just checked the odds & who would believe Hull lying 3rd in the Premiership, 3 points off the top slot with minus 1 goal difference and they are still 2500-1 to win it! If they keep winning like this, even each way they are incredible value!

    From Scud, on Mon 6 Oct 9:26AM
  5. It warms my heart to see Spurs where they deserve to be on the table.

    From Heine, on Mon 6 Oct 8:00AM
  6. I was adimant that Spurs would have a good season, but that was before they changed the front of the lineup completely - absolutely destroying the ability to penetrate defenses. You can't rely on the midfield for your goals!

    Can you blame Keane and Berbatov for moving on now - both flying high and Spurs are rock bottom! Sad, very sad! A terrific club abd seeing them worse off than the jordies is destressing to say the least...

    From Woody, on Mon 6 Oct 7:25AM
  7. Building their team around 2 players namely Berbatov and Keane then selling them is now coming home to haunt them.....laughable really.

    From sappercommando25, on Mon 6 Oct 7:15AM
  8. This is too good to be true.... (Well done Hull,) Spurs are having a great season.. I was upset when they got rid of Christen Gross, I though that this man was @#$% but Ramos is a dream...lol I'm pissing myself as i type this in............ I've never laughed so much... hey..what have spurs and a toothpick got in common... they both have 2 ponts.. ha ha ha

    From Paul, on Mon 6 Oct 4:54AM
  9. Just when you think it can get any worse - it does! If I were the Boss of the Company that shelled out a fortune in shirt sponsorship a year or two ago - I'd be pretty pissed off now. 'Coca Cola' might want to buy it from them!?!

    From rassolna, on Mon 6 Oct 2:24AM
  10. I suggest we all go and watch West Ham, well alright just for one game - you never know Spurs might get the message. Or just to make it interesting, help the wife with the shopping on Saturdays and even mow the lawn on Sundays - that still leaves weekday matches - binge drinking seems like a good idea right now.

    From Paul, on Mon 6 Oct 12:42AM
  11. I've nothing against either Arsenal or Spurs, but I lived in Hull for years and saw the football team reduced to near ruin - locked out of its ground, bottom of the league, you name it. To see them in the Premiership, winning games and making friends is fantastic and their fans and the city deserve it. Best story of the year, here's hoping it continues for years to come. Well done to the players, Phil Brown and the fans.

    A trophy would be great !

    From Picanuper, on Mon 6 Oct 12:15AM
  12. hohobhohoho, ho's coca cola taste?

    From luiz b, on Mon 6 Oct 12:11AM
  13. hull and spurs are F***s!!!!!!!!!!

    From Ripster, on Mon 6 Oct 12:06AM
  14. Bravo Hull City Well done.u thrashed my club arsenal and u've gone on 2 disgrace those useless hotspurs have fun this season hull u deserve it

    From toby4eva, on Sun 5 Oct 11:54PM
  15. Big props for Hull, already more points than Derby got last season and alot of people belived Hull would be the team to do worse than that, I really hope they stay up, and if 3rd is the highest point they ever make in the Premiership after this many games, they can say something alot of other clubs can't say

    Lee, Reading FC Fan

    From Lee B, on Sun 5 Oct 11:31PM
  16. Spurs will be relagated by Christmas maybe not mathematically, they cant win for toffee only when they sell off the over rated players will a real tottenham team arrive. Thing is who will buy them??? even coca cola teams wont fear these chumps.

    From chris_nightwolf100, on Sun 5 Oct 10:33PM
  17. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. Well Done Hull, Keep Up The Gud work

    From Craig, on Sun 5 Oct 10:19PM
  18. This is one of the most heart-warming stories of the year. Spurs could be mathematically down by the New Year. Does it get better than this? Hey if it is any consolation, we (Arsenal) have only picked up 1 point in our last TWO games but remain in champion’s league position. Did you see our demolition of Porto....?

    Too big to go down? Say hi to Leeds when you see them!!

    From Dc, on Sun 5 Oct 9:52PM
  19. spurs fan i fill sorry for you coz you are never going to break in to top four.

    From Amaan A, on Sun 5 Oct 9:32PM
  20. go on hull show the big team's how it's done WELL DONE

    From johnrobinson61106, on Sun 5 Oct 9:26PM
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