After Hull missed out on escaping the relegation zone in their last 2 matches (Burnley and Leicester) it was now impossible for them to move out of it on this round of fixtures. However, the tigers created much more hope amongst themselves and their fans by narrowly beating the South Wales side 2-1. The goals came from substitute Oumar Niasse late in the game, Alfie Mawson responded in injury time for the swans. This was the 3rd time the relegation-battling teams met this season with Hull winning all 3 of them and scoring 2 goals in each contest. An aggregate score of 6-1!

It looked as though the away side had no intention to win the game, they sat back and defended well, for the majority of the game anyway. The tigers did well to keep Swansea’s in-form striker, Fernando Llorente, at bay. The number 9 was the only option they had for a long time, until he went off injured. This allowed Huddlestone to run his game much more smoothly, a sublime first touch, sharp change in direction and finding the perfect pass. There is no doubt the 30 year-old midfielder is having one of the best spells of his career. Much improved from last week as well was Lazar Markovic, the winger terrified both Swansea edges by using his exploding pace and neat dribbling down both sides. One that didn’t impress so much was Grosicki, he was great at linking up with Robertson and finding space, but he couldn’t complete anything in that final third, his crossing needs to be worked on.

credit dom fellowes

Swansea should have been 1-0 up when Sigurdsson was found with plenty of space in the Hull box, he gave a cheeky back heel for Tom Carroll to get a by-line cross into the area. Jakupovic pushed it right into the path of Routledge who spurred his chance wide. How was it possible!

Swansea did get another chance, the Icelandic mastermind Sigurdsson was brought down just metres outside the box, he took the free-kick himself and we all know how dangerous he is with set-pieces. The ball was hit with such pace and looked to be burrowing itself into that left hand corner, but Jakupovic was there to keep it at 0-0 with a miraculous diving save.

Abel Hernandez was isolated up front by himself and was hardly in the game until Niasse replaced N’Diaye who had his worst performance in a Hull shirt, giving the ball away more often than not. Niasse made an impact just 5 minutes after coming on. The swans were trying some neat build up play down Hull’s right edge, Huddlestone got into a tangle with an opposing player, the ball spilled to full-back Elabdellaoui who used a quick turn of pace and gained a large amount of metres before giving it to the impact sub in Niasse just past half way. The Senegalese striker passed to his strike partner and was left with a ball to run onto to. He out-paced centre-back Alfie Mawson to the ball, Fabianski rushed out to meet him but Niasse tucked it under the arm of the Polish ‘keeper!

Hull 1-0 Swansea.

Less than 10 minutes later another change was made, Markovic made way for Elmohamady. The sound of his name was met with a few groans, but that soon changed. The Egyptian spotted Hernandez making a run and dinked a cute ball over 3 Swansea players. Hernandez failed to control the ball and the swans centre-back was caught out, the ball travelled through his legs, and again substitute Niasse was there, he controlled the bouncing ball and hit it back across the ‘keeper without the ball touching the ground, quick feet! A big game player!

Hull 2-0 Swansea.

The stadium wasn’t as nervy as expected before the game, this was because the tigers were 2 goals to the good. Swansea had their last few attacks of the game, Harry Maguire wrestled and pushed over Ayew close to the touch-line, just 30 or so yards out. Sigurdsson stood over it and whipped in a near-post delivery where the on-rushing Alfie Mawson got ahead of Niasse and scored past the sleeping Hull city, luckily for the home side, this was only a consolation.

Fulltime: Hull 2-1 Swansea.

I think it gives us much more hope however next week we have Everton. If we win and Palace lose we will exit the dreaded drop zone, however Palace’s game is much more winnable than ours. We continue to fight!