Hull City 2 (Rowe 8, Francis 37)
Att. 3,004
Edwards Goodison Whittle Whitney
Swales Greaves Philpott Mann
Rowe Francis
Subs:
Lee Bracey
Nathan Peat
Clint Marcelle (For Greaves)
David Brown (For Rowe)
Jason Harris (For Francis)
City continued with the 4-4-2 formation that they played aginst Leyton Orient last week, with youth team captain Nathan Peat on the bench for his first squad appearance of he season.
The Tigers started brightly, playing the ball around like they did at the very start of the season, and battling hard to win it back when they lost it. And they took the lead deservedly when Rodney Rowe cashed in on a Matthew Redmile slip to latch on to a long pass from Steve Swales and run in to the area before drilling the ball in to the bottom corner.
The impressive Sam Aiston caused City a scare about 10 minutes later when he ran the ball from his half right to the edge of Paul Musselwhite's area, but he had his shot saved.
But undaunted, the Tigers continued to play good football, and it led them to a superb second goal. Steve Swales lofted an up-and-under from the dead ball line, Kevin Francis nodded the ball to Rowe who turned well and passed the ball back to Francis who slotted home from inside the area.
So the first half ended and the team left to much rapturous applause. And they came out to it after the break. But Shrewsbury started brightly, and Paul Musselwhite made a couple of good saves.
As the clock wound down, Brian Little, or god to his friends, brought on Clint Marcelle for an injured Mark Greaves (he was stretchered off with a leg injury), then Jason Harris, and in the dying minutes of stoppage time David Brown. No appearance for Peat though.
There was an action packed 3 minutes of stoppage time. Paul Musselwhite made a fantastic save from a Shrews player, but up the other end (ours) Rodney Rowe had a chance to make it 3-0, but he volleyed the ball and Ian Dunbavin pushed the ball high and wide.
So the final whistle came and again, under very difficult circumstances, the players came away with a win. Musselwhite was reliable and made 3 good saves, Goodison was outstanding, Whittle was strong and courageous like usual, Whitney and Edwards performed well, Philpott and Greaves battled tirelessly in the middle of the field, Mann and Swales were inventive. Swales had a blinder and set up both goals. Francis worked extremely hard, won everything in the air, and scored a good goal, Rowe's movement was first-class, and he scored a good goal and played a part in the second.
Roll on Tuesday. Be there. Hopefully we will have some good news by then too.
