By Jack Watson
Today Hull City beat newly demoted Leicester City in a hard-fought battle at The King Power Stadium, which is a stadium I have been wanting to visit since I first saw it. I am over the moon that I made the journey down to the East Midlands; it was my first away match of the season and we are on form at the moment–I could not miss it. So, as a birthday present, my brother and I went searching to witness our second win on the road (I have only seen one!) and we got what we wanted–it was two presents in one.
I have to admit, I did feel a bit pessimistic about this match; they were top of the league and they are unbeaten so far. Not to forget, they still have Jamie Vardy, who won the Premier League with Leicester and has been one of their top players since he joined. Nonetheless, as I stated, The Foxes headed into the game looking for their 5th win out of five, to try and get them back to the top flight. For us, we drew to Bristol last week; won two and lost one in our previous four matches. I am falling in love with this team at the moment, and Rosenior has to be one of the best managers in the Championship.
I arrived at Leicester two hours early, however, it gave me time to take a look around the historical city, but it had nothing to it, to be honest (maybe I was just in the wrong part). The only good thing I can say about it was that around the stadium they had some great entertainment and a lot of places to buy food (at £7 for a hot dog, I stuck to my tesco meal deal), which is something our stadium lacks.
Anyhow, the line-up was confirmed at 2pm and, according to LiveScore, we were in our usual 4-2-3-1 formation, with two changes from our clash against Bristol City; Aaron Connolly replaced Ozan Tufan, who has picked up a minor injury, unfortunately, and Ruben Vinagre for Sean McLoughlin. That means our starting eleven was as follows: Matt Ingram, in goal; Ruben Vinagre, Alfie Jones, Jacob Greaves and Lewie Coyle, as the back four; Jean Seri and Regan Slater, were distributed below them and Scott Twine, Adama Traore and Liam Delap, were above Aaron Connolly, who was up-front on his own, making his first start since last season. It is galling that Tufan is injured; hopefully it does not pour water over him, as he is on fire at the moment.
Also, we have four new additions to our team: Tyler Morton; Jaden Philogene; Bora Aydinlik and James Furlong. I know a great deal about Morton and I have heard rumours that Philogene is a class player and another weapon in our arsenary. The transfer window is now closed and we made a total of 10 signings this season. I cannot make a single complaint.
The first period started with us trying to settle into the game and forget about any nerves we had about playing a top team like Leicester. Not to worry, though, as we quickly took control of the match and in the 15th minute we did something I was not expecting; we took the lead. Delap took the ball on the right, brought it to the edge of the box and his superb strike curled into the bottom-left corner of the goal and it sent the fans at the other side of the pitch crazy. That is Delap’s second goal for us and I hope he can keep it up; he is what we missed last season–a good finisher.
Leicester searched for a response, however, thankfully, we remained switched on, which is something we can never do. They did have a couple of opportunities; Harry Winks floated a ball over the bar and Iheanacho saw a shot cleared off the line by Regan Slater, but the flag went up anyway. Other than that, we defended well, created many opportunities, pressured amazingly and held the ball nicely, which allowed us to see out the first 45 minutes with a well-deserved lead.
The second half was incredibly nerve wracking and we were lucky that they did not equalise. The game was more open and both teams created chances. It was a bit like watching a game of basketball; one side misses a shot and the next second, the other side is on the attack with a similar opportunity. Our best chance of the period was an attempt from Connolly in the 58th minute; Liam Delap broke free on the right wing and found Connolly running towards the box; however, he shot first time and floated it above the goal. If only he took his time, we could have doubled our advantage.
I have to say, the hosts did have most of the best chances in the final third of the 90 minutes. They brought on some quality players and later brought on Vardy, but neither of them could do anything special to grab a point. Their best chance was a Fatawu effort from the same position Delap scored in. The only difference, he hit the post. I did worry that Leicester would do what Middlesbrough did to us last season; score three quick goals. But, they didn’t and we took the three points.
It was a very strong performance from us today and if we take a look at the stats, it shows how well we handled the pressure and managed to come out of a tricky game victorious. They had 21 shots compared with our 7 and only one of them was on target; they dominated in passes–612 to our 339–and possession–65% to our 35%. This reminded me of us last season.
I feel something special about this season; the team’s determination, the way we play and the players we have brought in is something I have never seen at the club before. Further, it was our first win at The King Power Stadium since 2008 and we beat a team who are Premier League quality and on form. I can happily say that we are going to be top contenders for the top six this season.
We now have a break, but when we come back, we have two back-to-back night games at home against Coventry City and our biggest rivals, Scums United. Sorry, I meant Leeds United (bloody autocorrect!). I am optimistic that we will have no problems with these teams and, with luck, take all six points to push us further up the league.
