During a game that had a real end-of-season feel to it, Sunderland won 0-1 at Hullthrough a Darren Bent goal, effectively relegating the home side.
This win brought Steve Bruce’s men up to tenth in the table in what was becoming a reasonably decent first season at the club for Sunderland’s new manager — despite a long winless run that occurred between Christmas and March.
The game was a drab contest, in truth; Hull showed why they were near the bottom of the table whilst the away side displayed why they would
achieve a mid-table finish, and there was a lack of intensity.
The early goal came through Bent as Kenwyne Jones met Alan Hutton’s cross with a far-post header and Bent was on hand to tap home his twenty fifth goal of the season from close range.
Moments later, the same players combined again as a low cross from Jones found Bent in space, but the striker drilled wide.
In contrast, Hull had plenty of possession during both halves but their lack of quality was quite telling during the contest. Despite this, they were offered a glorious opportunity to level up when former Hull defender Michael Turner upended Geovanni in the box, winning a penalty for the home side.
Hull’s talisman Jimmy Bullard, who’d scored all four of his previous spot kicks for the club, inexplicably dragged his effort onto the outside of the post — a body blow for the home side and a let off for the away one.
Before the drab second half ensued, there was late drama in the first half of this contest when Sunderland defender Hutton got into a tussle with future Sunderland player Jozy Altidore.
Hutton picked the ball up and threw it gently against Altidore, who rose to his feet and charged into the Scot with his head.
Referee Lee Probert brandished the red card at Altidore while Hutton received treatment for a facial injury. But when the former Spurs defender got up, he was also dismissed, to the obvious fury of Sunderland boss Bruce.
In truth, the incident was farcical from both individuals but certainly more costly for the home side, who had to play without their main centre forward for the second half.
The blow of missing a penalty and having their striker sent off was evident in Hull’s play as they had plenty of posession throughout the second half without doing much with it. Bruce brought on captain Lorik Cana to steady the ship whilst defender Andy Dawson came closest for Hull, denied by a comfortable save for Craig Gordon in the Sunderland goal.
After another excellent win for the away side, Bruce spent most of the post-game press conference lamenting Probert’s decision to send off his full back.
We all do things in the heat of the moment on a football pitch. Alan Hutton was arguably a bit silly to have thrown the ball at his back but it’s not going to do any real damage to him.
The incident after that is totally ridiculous. Hutton’s got a cut eye, a smashed nose and a chipped tooth so he’s close to having really serious facial injuries. That for me doesn’t warrant the same punishment but the letter of the law is if you throw the ball I do believe it’s a red card.
It’s GBH, not a sending-off. I like Altidore but you don’t want to see that.
In the bigger scheme of things, the issues facing Bruce were far less severe than those that Hull were going to have to face up to, with financial difficulties and impending relegation hanging over them like a dark cloud.
With only a couple of games remaining in this campaign, Bruce could be pleased with his season’s work.
