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Dirk Kuyt sends Liverpool to top after win at Hull
Phil Brown’s Premier League strugglers were ultimately undone by their overly combative nature after a bright start
Hull 1 Liverpool 3. Liverpool kept up the relentless game of leapfrog with Manchester United at the top of the Premier League after recording a nervy victory at the KC Stadium. Hull put up a combative performance but remain rooted in the mire at the bottom of the Premier League, while the Merseysiders' win took them back to the top of the table - until Manchester United's remarkable game against Tottenham.
Hull started brightly and found the visitors' goalkeeper Pepe Reina in an uncharacteristically poor form, giving away the ball with a succession of poor goal kicks that he needed his defence to rescue him from. But the first goal came at the other end of the pitch on the stroke of half time, when Javier Mascherano was controversially fouled outside the Hull box. Xabi Alonso hit his first attempt into the wall but buried the rebound past the despairing Hull keeper Myhill.
Liverpool were gifted numerical superiority in the second period when Hull striker Caleb Folan clattered into Martin Skrtel and aimed an unnecessary kick at the Liverpool defender as he fell. Shortly after Dirk Kuyt's header from just six yards appeared to seal the game for Liverpool, but a Hull rally capped by a goal from Geovanni gave hope to the home fans. Kuyt's second of the match finally sealed it for Rafa Benitez's in the 89th minute.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Duncan Castles, the Observer: "However they may attempt to place Rafa Benítez "beyond the pale", Manchester United's most persistent challenger refuses to stay out of sight. As the title fight dances into its final rounds, Benitez's studied resistance has grated with Sir Alex Ferguson. The Spaniard has been shining his knowing smile, clipping his careful sentences – and winning enough points to keep United fretting."
Richard Rae, Sunday Times: "The talk beforehand, even among the City fans, was of how many, but the three goals Liverpool scored were no sort of reflection on a game in which the Tigers matched the visitors for long periods. Even after being reduced to 10 men when Caleb Folan was rightly sent off, and going two down immediately afterwards, City fought with a spirit born of desperation. It would, however, be a mistake to ascribe any defensive nervousness on Liverpool’s part to their opponents. Not at all, said Rafa Benitez afterwards, it was the fault of the pitch." ·
