Friday
9th October 1998

Hull City
Wilson
Hawes
Mann
Hocking
Whitworth
French (Edwards 71)
McGinty
D'Auria (Morley 57)
Brown
Hateley
Rioch

Sub not used
Joyce

Cardiff City
Hallworth
Fowler
Ford
Mitchell
Young
Carpenter
Bonner
Brazier
Thomas (Williams 71)
Nugent
O'Sullivan

Subs not used
Middleton
Phillips

Left Ninian Park on Bus- 1pm
Arrived at Hull- 6.30pm
Total travelling distance minus the stop in the services- 5hours

This was a magnificent win for the City who definitely deserved it against
a Hull City side who were very poor. The City played very well on the night
and had enough chances in the first half to have won the game by three or
four. Mike Ford was brought back into the side as captain and he was
outstanding, his defences play and his simple passing from the back was
quality and this made him man of the match by miles. Dai Thomas also played
very well and had one of his best performances in a City shirt.
The City fans(about 200-250) who place in a small section of a terrace and
grandstand on the side of the dugouts, the view from the terrace was good
especially considering I only paid £1 to get in. When I enquired to the
steward why we weren’t placed behind the goal where away fans are normally
situated at Hull he said that Hull were only expecting about 70 City fans
and that the area which we were given would have plenty of room for us.(70
City fans when we could go top of the league- He must be having a laugh).
As I came up to Hull I read an article in the Match Of The Day football
magazine which carried out a survey into who had the best and worst pies in
the league, Hull pies were rated 90th best out of 92, but for some reason I
tried one in the ground and they were horrible, a total rip of at £1.55 The
magazine was right infact I’m not supprised they weren’t rated 92nd they
were that bad.

As for the game

City lined up with a 5-3-2 formation

1. HALLWORTH
5.YOUNG 4.MICHELL 3.FORD(CAPTAIN)
11.O'SULLIVAN 8.BRAZIER
7.BONNER 6.CARPENTER 11.FOWLER
9.THOMAS 10.NUGENT
SUBS
MIDDLETON, WILLIAMS AND PHILLIPS.

FIRST HALF.

City started the far brighter side at Boothferry park and immediately you
could tell that the City players were up for the game. Just before the City
took the lead Three fans in the City section started singing ''HULL CITY,
HULL CITY''. Infact they were Hull fans. As they were being lead out of they ground by the steward one of the Hull fans started throwing punches at the steward, This lead to a mass surge towards the three Hull fans and this nearly lead into a fight between the City and Hull fans, But things were calmed down and it was just after this City took the lead. Fowler picked up the ball on the right he took on a Hull defender and got to the by-line, he whipped a great ball into the centre for Thomas to get on the end of The ball dropped nicely and Thomas hit a crisp strike on the half volley into the corner of the net,10 minutes gone and City were one-nil up. This lead to songs from the city faithful as ''WE ARE TOP OF
THE LEAUGE SAY WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAUGE'' and ''GOING UP, GOING UP ,GOING UP. city were totally in control at this point and until 30 minutes they
restricted Hull to long range shots from the edge of the box which
Hallworth dealt with easily. After about 20 odd minutes Thomas nearly made
it two, He ran on to a through ball and chipped it over the advancing Hull
keeper the ball looked in all the way but it just slide past the side of
the post .Fowler was also unlucky when made a long run through the heart of
the Hull defence he struck the ball sweetly but once again it just went
wide. City should have been 2 or 3 nil up at this point but with around 10
minutes left Hull started coming back into the game. You could sense
something was going to happen and after 42 minutes it did, The ball was
played to ex Manchester United player David Brown who had bags of time one
the edge of the City box. He chipped the ball over the advancing Hallworth
and it rolled towards the goal, it was on target and despite the efforts of
Two City defences to clear the ball it went in,42 minutes gone Hull City
1-1 Cardiff City. City were hanging on at this point and were very pleased
to hear the half time whistle .The ref. blew for half time and City could
count themselves unlucky not to be ahead.
HULL CITY 1-1 CARDIFF CITY.

SECOND HALF.

The second half started and looked bright and alert again and after 52
minutes City took the lead again ,Brazier picked up the ball on the left he
crossed the ball into the box from about 35 yards and it landed directly on
Thomas's head he header the ball towards the goal and the ball nestled in
the corner, This lead to mass celebrations by the City fans as everyone ran
towards the wall at the front of the terrace. City were now Two One up and
the singing again started ''GOING UP, GOING UP, ''WE ARE TOP OF THE
LEAUGE'' etc....
City seemed in total control again and were passing the ball around nicely
against a Very Poor Hull side who seemed very despondent at this point.
There were no real chances for about 15 minutes apart from long range
efforts from both sides as City seemed to settle for what they had and
defend deep. After 70 minutes and to the suprise of everyone Thomas was
taken off and he was on for his hat trick and replaced by William’s. He
seemed very annoyed and he didn’t even acknowledge the City fans who were
clapping him off. Once William’s came on the pace of the City’s game
increased and they started knocking long balls over the top for William’s
to run onto and with about 15 minutes left William’s flashed a shot just
over after a determined run. The city looked comfortable until Hull started
Knocking long balls to Mark Hateley and increasing the pace of the game and
this resulted with Hull having two excellent chances to put the game all
square. The first was from a corner, the ball was swung in and Hallworth
lost the flight of the ball it missed all the City defenders and David
Brown should have scored with a clear header but the ball just went wide
from about 5 yards. The second chance Haterly should have scored easily
although Mitchell made a crucial challenge to put Haterly off. The ball was
crossed in from the right Haterly header for goal and with Hallworth beaten
the ball went wide. After a frantic 6 minutes of injury time the ref blew
the final whistle and City had won.

FINAL SCORE HULL CITY 1-2 CARDIFF CITY.

PLAYERS RATINGS OUT OF TEN.

HALLWORTH 6 - A solid performance who really tested greatly
FOWLER 7 - A good performance by Fowler who looked dangerous and created
the first goal.
FORD 10 (EASILY MAN OF THE MATCH) - A remarkable defensive performance by Ford who didn’t put a foot wrong.
MITCHELL 8 - A good performance who won allot of ball in the air
YOUNG 7 - A solid performance by Scott but not as good as Ford or Mitchell.
CARPENTER 8- He won good ball in midfield and he used it very well- played
well.
BONNER 7 - Worked hard and always played the simple ball
BRAZIER 7 - Gave the City good width and put a great ball in for the second
goal
THOMAS 8 - Worked tremendously hard and deserved both of his goals
NUGENT 8- - Held the ball up well and linked up well with Thomas
O SULLIVAN 6 - Worked hard and won the ball frequently in the tackle

Cheers
Dean

Report from AOL

The fans turned out in force to show their faith in Hull City but the football
League's bottom club went down again.
More than 8,500 turned up see Dai Thomas give Cardiff the lead after only 10
minutes and they then took control of the game but missed a host of chances.
It gave Hull the chance to get back into the game just before half time when
Brian McGinty's surging run led to David Brown sweeping in the equaliser.
But Cardiff regained the lead just after half-time with a winning goal by
Thomas, which took them to the top of the division. Hull's defence failed to
cover a cross from Matt Brazier and Thomas took advantage of the free header. Cardiff sat back and soaked up plenty of Hull pressure but they were on
tenterhooks in the closing minutes when Mark Hateley's header went only inches
wide and an injury time cross shot from Mike Edwards almost sneaked in.