Mauled by the Tigers. You really couldn't describe it any other way. Sure Northampton played like eleven players bereft of any plan or tactical formation, other than "get out there, try and pass to one of ours and see what happens". Sure the home side had mentally packed their boots away in their kit bags and pointed their sponsored sports cars in the direction of home well before the final whistle. But this was a breathtaking Tigers display full of self-belief, organisation and skill. And it culminated in a goal of sublime quality that had this correspondence punching the air, hugging nearby supporters and marvelling and the sheer excellence of this latest Tiger breed. Stuart Green harries the flustered N'ton left back Carruthers and dispossesses him, then rolls a tidy ball infield to the advancing Forrester. The alert striker steps over the ball as he feints to advance on goal, and the ball runs to Burgess centre field. With the defence now disorientated, Forrester spins off and strides into space while Burgess flicks a sumptuous first time through ball into the gaping space. Forrester latches onto the ball, waits for the reserve keeper Thompson to show his hand before sweeping a low drive into the far corner of the net, perhaps no more than three inches inside the post. It all took about four seconds, it was truly wonderful and it capped a day of Tiger mayhem at the breached Fortress Sixfields.

What a week it's been for the Tiger nation, almost certainly unsurpassed in domination and quality for 30 years or more. A 6-1 caning of Kidderminster, a superb hard working victory against Swansea and now this, an absolute walloping of Northampton, who despite their managerial troubles hadn't conceded a goal at home since the opening day of the season. Sure we rode our luck against Swansea as they hit woodwork twice, but this City team deserves all the moments of fortune it gets. They are an exhilarating force going forward and an increasingly impenetrable fortress at the back. Our midfield oozes skill and aggression. Our goalkeeper is a towering presence once more with his confidence restored. Our manager must take the credit - Peter Taylor, you are the saviour of Hull City, and those who say you are not are wrong.

Sharpening their claws for a serious wildebeest hunt were:

Musselwhite
Hinds Whittle Delaney Dawson
Price Green Ashbee Elliott
Burgess Allsopp

The only mauling of tiger, rather than by tiger, witnessed yesterday happened early on. First match reporting team stalwart Ian Thomson was seen seeking out City mascot Roary and shaking him firmly by the paw in an act of genuine, almost tear jerking camaraderie. Then the game started and a fired up Northampton made the lofty Tigers earn the right to play with some decent but intermittent attacking football. Much of their good work going forward was prompted by the excellent Lawrie Dudfield, who was scandalously and totally undeservedly given the "City reject" treatment by a small (in numbers and minds) pocket of City supporters. I'm all for banter at matches but this was just sheer ignorance, Lawrie served City well in his time here, a fact widely recognised when he was subbed in the second half and got a louder cheer from the away end than the home. Super Lol indeed.

Within three minutes N'ton had worked their first opening, as the highly-rated-plucked-from-non-league-right-winger Josh Low won a corner and centre back Wilmott headed well over from 8 yards. If highly-rated-plucked-from-non-league-right-winger Ryan France shapes up like Low, then we can all be very happy. For the opening ten minutes N'ton passed the ball around neatly without threatening City's goal much, while the away side seemed content to watch the opposition carefully, assess their tactics and plan our offensive from there. Superb measured and intelligent play - nice one Mr Taylor. We made one early chance on 13 when Green slipped a ball onto the toe of the willing and unattended Allsopp, but either his first touch, a bobble or a gust of wind (perhaps all 3?) conspired to take the ball away from him as he shaped to shoot, and the stretching effort was pushed well wide. Then N'ton had some luck when Delaney and Dudfield chased down a hoofed clearance deep in the City box. Delaney got there first and swiped a clearance, but the ball smacked Lawrie in the chest and fell kindly for him to take a shot. Alas the effort was underhit towards the near post and Mussy clawed it away for a corner. Dudfield again went close when Trollope whipped a free kick wide right onto his unmarked bonce, this time Musselwhite made a far more testing and quality save to palm the ball away from the foot of the post.

Just as N'ton started to think they might have a chance, so they were crushed. N'ton were attempting some "midfield-to-centre-back-to-midfield" type passing so favoured by Premiership clubs who can do it. It was evident that N'ton can't though, and a horridly misplaced pass found only Elliott in an advanced position and acres of space. He raced to the edge of the box and then just when it seemed he may have held on too long, he lashed a fearsome left foot shot across the keeper into the far side of the goal for 0-1. Such was the Ulsterman's excitement in wanting to celebrate with the City bench, coupled with the comprehensive mobbing that he got from his 9 fellow outfield players, that he failed to execute his trademark celebratory flick-flack. The only non-mobber was the alert Musselwhite, who instructed several celebrating City fans to get off the pitch in terms that would've left even people as dense as these in no doubt of his instruction. Good work by the big man.

N'ton were no doubt taken aback by this turn of events, but still looked to pass it around midfield without ever actually getting into a goalscoring position. Pony-tailed ex-Tiger Christian Hargreaves in particular seems to have made the transition from useless and ineffectual striker at City to useless and ineffectual midfielder at Northampton. Low had a sniff of goal at the back post after Ashbee yielded a free kick deep in our half, but his lack of composure meant the connection was poor and the ball spun wide. You wouldn't say it was largely formless but it was never going to threaten the City castle, whose drawbridge was firmly shut tight.

As the half drew to a close city did what all good team do, they upped a gear and played the closing moments in the opposition's half. First an acrobatic Elliott cross was headed way over by Burgess, but the defender pressured Big Ben well and deserved his luck. Then City won a harmless looking free-kick on halfway and the big guns rolled forward. Hinds lofted the kick onto Burgess's bonce on the edge of the penalty area, and his backwards header fell into a dangerous area just outside the six yard box. This danger was enhanced greatly by the presence of Allsopp, who held off his man and swivelled to execute a first time shot that fizzed into the back of the net before the keeper had time to react even to the Burgess flick. It was a true predator's goal, and one of a man high on confidence. Three City shots, 2-0 - awesome.

The half drew to a close with Low riding two challenges in centre midfield with considerable skill before once again showing his lack of composure by mishitting a 20 yard shot well wide. But as City strode in with cheers and hoop-las in their ears 2-0 up, so another assured performance was evident. "We could stick a few more past these if we keep playing like that", commented the bloke behind me. How true that was - perhaps it was indeed Laurens ven der Post who has started late in life to adopt the Tiger creed.

N'ton had clearly had a fearsome screaming-at at half-time and emerged fired up, but still bereft of any real plan, other than to get the ball to Low whenever possible. This one dimensional tactic was soon shut down by Ashbee and his mates in midfield, and so the home team folded. Within seven minutes of the restart Elliott was withdrawn by the resurgent Andy Holt, who proceeded to put in a shift of technical quality and considerable heart. Once more, the manager must take credit for enervating the previously shipwrecked Holt and turning him into a useful bit part player when the going gets tough. Holt's contract expiry next Summer is no doubt another factor.

With an hour on the clock N'ton had fired a couple of set pieces over the bar, caused some mild panic in the City box on one occasion and prompted Price to see yellow thanks to a messy lunge on half way. When the tall but useless Morison broke free on 58 minutes the home fans (who were liberally interspersed with bound and gagged East Riding interlopers) rose from their seats in expectation of a good shooting chance. As Morison steadied himself 16 yards out the thundering hooves of Justin Whittle clattered across and remove the ball out of the tidy and compact stadium and dumped the confused striker on his arse. A bone juddering challenge by Judda, and the last threat N'ton posed for quite a while.

Holt and Allsopp combined wide left to fashion a cross that Hargreaves headed out for a corner as Price lurked hopefully on the back post, but the flag kick came to nothing. Moments later a repeat raid down our left saw Holt flinging himself into a challenge on their right back deep in their penalty box. Such was the ferocity of the tackle that it turned into an inviting low cross that fell to Price beyond the far post, but his shot was blocked for a corner. Then on 67 minutes Allsopp was fed the ball wide right by Price, and the dreadlocked Welsh wizard advanced speedily into the box as Allsopp danced past his defender and span a low and inviting cross into the box. As the ball approached the near post it was apparent that Allsopp's pass and Price's run were in perfect synergy, and Price thumped home a header from 3 yards out to make it 0-3. More Tiger mayhem, more rejoicing by the players on the pitch, N'ton heads dip a little lower.

Three minutes later Allsopp chased down another woeful backpass and advanced on keeper Harper, who smothered the Aussie's shot adeptly. Alas the ball spilled free and Allsopp was alert to get back to his feet while the defender in attendance switched off completely. Alarmed by this exposure, Harper realised the only course of action available to stop Allsopp roll the ball into an empty net was to perform a neat ankle tap, which he duly did and saw red for. Replacement netminder Thompson's first act was to comprehensively dive the wrong way for Burgess's straight-down-the-middle penalty, but to be fair the keeper's save with his trailing foot was no fluke and the chance went begging. Burgess was utterly devastated by this miss, failure is most definitely not on the City "can-do" list at the moment. Another example of this was during the warm-up when Mussy failed to get a firm hand on a Fettis practice shot and palmed it into the corner of the net - Mussy became ashen faced when ten seconds previously he had joked with City fans, and proceeded to curse himself intensely for a good two minutes for his lapse of concentration - and that was just the pre-match kickabout!

Anyway Ben's misfortune was soon overturned, but not before Northampton managed to claw one goal back. As the ball was held in the left wing position by N'ton, City supporting stalwart Trevor Holmes, whom I had the honour to sit next to yesterday, boldly proclaimed "they just don't look like scoring do they Mike?". At which point the winger swung a decent cross into the box that the stretching Whittle could only half clear to Trollope on the edge of the area, who swiped a meaty shot into the corner low down to Mussy's left. Great coffee Trev, not so sure about the footballing insight.

All this did was rouse the Tigers once more. A fine Dawson cross was headed over the N'ton crossbar by one of their defenders amid some panic, and when the ball was returned via the flagkick Whittle rose majestically and thumped a header onto the underside of the crossbar. The ball fell to Burgess 4 yards out whose simple task it was to roll the ball into the empty half of the net. 1-4.