That was more like it. Today we beat West Bromwich at home under the lights of the MKM Stadium, bringing the number of games that we have not lost at home to seven. This was a much more enjoyable game and we certainly turned things around since our defeat to Bristol last week. We headed into the game with two draws, two defeats and one win; however, West Bromwich have lost three, drawn one and won one in their previous five league matches.
I was not optimistic heading into this fixture as we have not been on form recently and I have not seen us beat this side. Oh, we were on Sky TV too. However, we turned up to play. Why can we not perform like this in every game? The level of play was high and it is what we should be playing like if we want to push for playoffs. Compared with last week, the whole team looked energetic, hungry and determined to win. We need to take this attitude to every upcoming fixture as it is vital that we get every three points.
We lined up in a 4:2:3:1 formation, with Karl Darlow in goal; Sean McLoughlin, Alfie Jones, Lewie Coyle and Callum Elder as the back four; Ozan Tufan, Greg Docherty, Xavier Simons, Regan Slater and Ryan Longman in midfield and that leaves Benjamin Tetteh up top. Four changes since our last game and we have finally benched Óscar Estupiñán, which, in my opinion, worked out well. I even said in my last report that we need to drop him. On the bench was: Thimothée Jacques Orcel Lo-Tutala; Jacob Greaves; Allahyar Sayyadmanesh; Malcolm Ebiowei; Adama Traore; Óscar Estupiñán and Tobias Figueiredo. That is a bench packed with talent and it is great to know that we have a lot of options.
The match started negatively, with the opposition coming at us for the first 20 minutes. Fortunately, our defence has strengthened and they were able to put in some great challenges that enabled us to win the ball back. However, like usual, we wasted a lot of chances to counter-attack and we ended up booting the ball back to the other team. It is great to see us clearing the ball properly, but it needs to start landing into our own player’s feet. Darlow, also, made some excellent saves and to be honest, we could have conceded without him.
After this spell, we started to switch on and get into the game. Our passing was sublime and we were pinging it about like we were in training. Also, when we attacked, we looked threatening and Tetteh was brilliant; he was winning the ball back and he could hold it, which is something Oscar struggled to do. Then, in the 33rd minute, we took the lead. Tetteh won a header, from which Slater threaded the ball back to him and he was able to turn and smash the ball, from a difficult angle, that soared into the top right corner of the goal. This was the Ghana international’s first goal in a Tigers shirt and hopefully he can go on a rampage.
For the remainder of the half, we were able to hold onto our advantage and I thought that we dominated. The only problem was, we kept going backwards and it slowed the game down. One minute we will be on the attack and the next, we will be back in our own half passing back to the keeper. It is like they want him to be involved with any goal that we score. Nonetheless, we headed into the next half leading, which I have not seen for a while.
The second half started positively, however, it slowed down towards the end. I thought that we were threatening and it was difficult for the visitors to take the ball from us. This is always the case at the beginning of the second half and it shows that Rosenior knows that we can do much better.
It did not take us long to increase our advantage as we scored in the 57th minute. But, the goal did not come from one of our players. Tufan’s corner from the left was headed towards goal by McLoughlin. However, O’Shea’s poor attempt at snubbing out the threat ended up with him putting the ball into his own net.
It was a great buzz and I actually forgot how to celebrate as I have not witnessed us have a comfortable lead since we beat QPR 3-0. The atmosphere was electric and it made up for my long draining day at school.
For the remainder of the half, the opposition tried to get back into the game; however, every shot on goal went into the sky or Darlow’s hands. Nothing seemed to want to go in for them and it added to the away fan’s frustration. But, this is what our fans felt like when they thrashed us 5-2 at their ground earlier in the season. So, we were able to give them a taste of their own medicine. Nonetheless, neither team was able to snatch a goal and the match ended 2-0.
A great match to watch today; however, it is safe to say that they dominated. They had 21 shots compared with our eight, they had 70% of the possession and they completed 635 passes to our 277. I do not understand how we were able to score two goals with these stats. Yet last week the stats were in our favour and we could not even score a goal. It is bizarre.
We are now sitting 13th in the table–this will change by Monday–and we are 9 points from the playoffs. I hope we can perform like this in our next game, which is Coventry away, and see us win on the road, which I have not witnessed since 2 January.
Hull City 2-0 West Bromwich
Great job Jack!