Six Goal Thriller at the KC

By: Matt | November 23rd, 2009

pmcs Hull City 3 West Ham 3

The Tigers managed to keep up some momentum from their win before the international break, going down 2-0 to West Ham before coming back to draw three all on Saturday.

Jimmy Bullard was in fine form, scoring one and creating another from a free kick deflected in off of Carlton Cole’s noggin. Although the Tigers led 3-2 at one stage and eventually conceded the equalizer, it could have all ended so differently had the Hammers 2-0 lead stood. All in all I’ll take the point, and we look forward to next weeks massive clash with Man City.

Check out some highlights here.

Final Thoughts on Henry-gate.

So with three Hull players directly involved with in Thierry Henry’s slap-tastic assist (and one more so than the others, ahem, MCSHANE) during Wednesday’s WC playoff, and yours truly currently living in Dublin and having attended the first leg at Croke Park, I figured I’d chime in on the already beaten into the ground topic.

Honestly? I don’t blame Henry at all. It was instinct, pure and simple. There is no way in the milliseconds after the ball initially struck his arm that he could make the consious decision to say ‘yes I’ll hit it with my left hand to keep it in bounds’. It was instinctual, and any other player would have done the same exact thing. If a footballer tells you otherwise, they are lying, or Irish (although so am I, and I would have done the same). So the vitriol aimed at Henry is a little dissapointing to be honest. He’s one of the greatest players ever, yet pompus over-bearing journalists talk about his reputation being ‘forever tarnished’, and having him banned. Please. Spare me. Robbie Keane was called for at minimum three handballs in the second leg, none garnering as much as a card. Henry immediatley admitted his guilt after the match, what more would you have him do?

The real responsibility lies with the Swedish officials, who didn’t see/whistle for the infraction. Here, I 100% agree with Irelands ageless manager Giovanni Trapattoni, who said that for matches of this magnitude, the best refs need to be chosen. In matches of the greatest importance, refs who are not afraid to make a big call, who are assertive enough to blow the whistle when needed, even in extra time of a second leg playoff, need to be assigned.

In the end I am most sad about the Irish supporters missing out on South Africa, or rather, South Africa and the world missing out on the Irish. Proof can simply be found in the playoff wiht les Bleus. France maybe brought a shade over a thousand to Croke Park, who barely made a peep, while the Irish brought a veritable army to Paris, and took over the city for a day, much less the Stade de France. Hopefully they can bring their energy and passion to Euro2012, and I think Trap can certainly lead them there.