Black Cats Maul Tigers

By: Matt | December 22nd, 2008

Sunderland 4 Hull City 1

Hull City took a pounding at the hands of Sunderland after Sam Ricketts was sent off in the 81st minute on Saturday afternoon. In fairness Sunderland were the better side throughout, but Ricketts’ dismissal certainly skewed the score line a bit.

Former Fulham man Steed Malbranque cracked a stunning opener into the top corner, before old boy Nick Barmby equalized shortly after, hammering home a finish after a scramble in the box. Kieran Richardson restored the lead with a deflected effort, and Kenwyne Jones and Djibril Cisse scored late on for the Cats to ice the match. Can’t argue too much with the result, Sunderland were just better on the day, with much credit going to stand in boss Ricky Sbragia.

I will say that I have always enjoyed watching Malbranque play, and his goals was a thing of beauty. Took the square pass, on the bobble, and absolutley lashed it into the top corner. Well done. Geovanni had a few nice cracks on goal as well, in particular a 30 yard free kick that Fulop did well to save.

The one thing I’ll have to take issue with was Jones & Cisse’s goal celebrations, which you should be able to watch below in the MoTD highlights. C’mon lads, that is just atrocious. Lets hope for viewers around the world’s sake that they stop scoring goals.

So while we were beaten convincingly at home, things are still looking bright for th Tigers, and Hull faithful everywhere will be quite happy this Christmas I’d reckon. 6th in the table on 27 points, two ahead of Everton on the 25th of December? Delighted. Next up is a Boxing Day clash with Man Citeh, which I do not have the best feeling about, especially after the light blues loss on Sunday to West Brom. Three points at Eastlands would be a wonderful gift however, c’mon you Hull!