Premier League - Ghilas earns points for Hull

Eurosport - Sat, 22 Aug 18:13:00 2009

Kamel Fathi Ghilas scored the only goal of the game as Hull City claimed a 1-0 win over Bolton Wanderers at the KC Stadium.

2008-2009 Hull City Phil Brown - 0

Hull came into the game without a home win in 2009 and for long spells it showed, as they played with commitment but little belief.

However, the introduction of new boy Jozy Altidore for his debut proved a masterstroke as he teed up Ghilas for the winner.

Bolton passed up a couple of golden chances in the first half and Gary Megson may well wonder how his side did not get anything from the game.

The Trotters set their stall out early in the piece with Sam Ricketts hurling the ball into the box at every available opportunity.

Boaz Myhill had clearly done his homework as he was prepared to come for any high ball and for the most part he did a solid job in taking the pressure off his defenders.

Chances were at a premium in the opening 45 minutes, but Bolton should have got their noses in front in the second minute.

Fabrice Muamba split the defence with a clever weighted pass that set Johan Elmander clear. He gathered himself before bearing down on Myhill but he took his shot like a striker who had not scored since December 2008 as he dragged his effort across the face of goal.

Hull huffed and puffed but lacked the cutting edge as Caleb Folan fed on scraps in his lone-striker role.

Ghilas shot weakly at Jussi Jaaskelainen and Stephen Hunt fired well over the top from 20 yards, but Hull's best moment came on 33 minutes as Geovanni cut in from the left before forcing a fine low save from Jaaskelainen.

Bolton carried the greater threat at set-pieces and should have taken the lead a minute before the break, but an unmarked Kevin Davies stabbed Sean Davis' clipped free-kick wide of the post from all of four yards.

The burly front-man could not fathom out how he had missed and neither could a bemused Megson on the touchline.

Davies almost atoned at the start of the second half, but his glancing header dropped a foot wide with Myhill beaten.

Hull boss Phil Brown (pictured) threw on Altidore for his debut and within 30 seconds of stepping foot on the KC pitch, the American had a hand in the winner.

The big forward showed great strength to hold his ground before dinking the ball over the top and into the path of Ghilas who prodded the ball beyond Jaaskelainen.

Hull suddenly had belief coursing through their veins and should have doubled their advantage a minute layer, but Kamil Zayatte sent a header wide from six yards.

Bolton committed men forward in the final 20 minutes and the Tigers should have sealed the win when Hunt clipped a glorious pass into the path of Altidore, but the striker chipped his shot over the keeper and a foot wide of its target.

Ghilas crashed a shot against the bar and later blazed wide as Hull failed to kill off Bolton.

Hull dropped so deep in the closing stages and were almost made to pay, but Myhill - a virtual spectator in the second half - pulled off a stunning double save to deny Ricketts and Chung-Yong Lee.

Alex Livie / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 10 of 10

Sort comments by: Most recent

  1. Shaun! Go back to where you came from!

    From Easyrider2609, on Mon 24 Aug 1:50PM

  2. nobody's, kinda like you, eh, SHAUN?

    From shoo, on Sun 23 Aug 2:19PM
  3. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    $HIT. 3 POINTS TO HULL. I WAS HOPING THAT THESE W @­ NKERS WOULD GET RELEGATED. HULL. FEKKIN BUNCH OF­ NOBODY'S

    From SHAUN, on Sun 23 Aug 11:46AM

  4. Three points is three points. Well done Tigers.

    From Mike, on Sun 23 Aug 7:19AM

  5. hull will be with new striker jozy altidore. i have a­ feeling he will score for them.

    From will, on Sat 22 Aug 5:50AM

  6. Phil Brown has been too negative in his approach and­ attitude, all this talk about "knowing when to­ settle for 1 point" doesn't place faith in­ your team to win! Playing with only 1 striker tells­ everyone you're not as good as the opposition. The­ beginning of last season we played confidently with 2­ big strikers, and everyone running so hard and­ challenging for everything - look at the results. Then­ Brown had a change of heart and system and look where­ it's taken us. They're all full time­ professional footballers, so there's no team that­ should be beyond beatable! Time to replace the old­ (Boeteng, Kilbane & even Dawson & Barmby -­ however faithful) and lazy (Folan, Cousin), with fresh­ and new. Give a couple of young ones a run out - it­ might be the energy we need!

    From James R, on Fri 21 Aug 11:02AM

  7. i am betting on hull on this one, they are playing at­ home, and they should rebound back from last game. I­ dont think bolton play well away from reebok.

    From YIN, on Fri 21 Aug 8:21AM

  8. Hull has showed they can mix it at the top level. But­ out of position players end up with a suscker punch.­ Need a settled back 4 and a decent striker that can­ take a shot when in the box. Altidore not proven.­ Boeteng not got the legs. Hunt as skipper. Halmosi on­ the left. Barmby up front. Sell Folan not good enough­ at this level. Dawson to act as temporary right back­ Kamil Zayatte on left. Mendy Cousan need to up there­ comitment to casual. Ashbee to assist manager in­ tactics. Geovanni central role with commitment to take­ shots on goal. Duke to challenge Myhill in Carling cup.­ Defence to concentrate on defending use wider channels­ rather than long ball. Hunt and Mendy to break off side­ trap crossing to centre cousin Barmby on Goal. Fagan to­ replace Barmby when fit. Possibly try out yong fast­ right winger to replace Mendy.

    Well that should get us­ through to October at least. Bring on Bullard to­ replace Geo.

    From eddie.reffell, on Thu 20 Aug 8:52PM

  9. If city cant beat bolton we are dead and buried­ alreadyiwill go as far as saying 99%sure we will go­ down if we dont get rid of P, Brown a very poor manager­ and as far as i can see has no knowledge what a good­ prem player is just blook at the players he has paid­ thousands for even championship sides dident want them­ so resign before its to late and lets hope we can get a­ manager who understands players and how to get the best­ out of them

    From diane_whitney, on Thu 20 Aug 8:25PM

  10. Hull have the players to win this one it just needs the­ manager to have faith in some of them they where­ unlucky against Chelsea defended well then against­ spurs well the defence fell apart infact gifted goals­ to Spurs so what did Brown do to them in three days­ changed them arround and left out his new strikers­ ????????????????

    From john.cooper.773, on Thu 20 Aug 8:19PM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account