A thrilling encounter in front of a big crowd, City weather an early squall to crush Sheffield Wednesday comprehensively. 

This was as thrilling a game as one could possibly witness. City did it the hard way, allowing a fired up opposition to come at us and score an early goal. Keane missed a routine tackle on halfway and the ball was swiftly advanced down the Wednesday right.  A dangerous cross was volleyed accidentally and powerfully towards our goal by Joseph and despite two parrying saves from Myhill the young Bolton loanee O'Brien rammed home a debut goal from 3 yards out.

City had fielded an attacking line-up identical to that which thumped Macclesfield:

Myhill
Joseph Cort Delaney Dawson
France Ashbee Keane Elliott
Barmby Facey

Despite the early setback the game soon became the Nick Barmby show. Nick was at the heart of most things good that City did for the rest of the half, with Keane and Facey also turning in influential performances. After 13 minutes a move down the left saw Dawson swing over a cross that was handled by a Wednesday defender shielding his face. It was a harsh decision, but correct according to the letter of the law. After the referee faffed around interminably trying to ensure no Wednesday defender had a little toe over the penalty area line, Keane stepped up and crashed a fine penalty into the roof of the net - despite guessing correctly and diving right, Lucas in the Wednesday had no chance thanks to the accurate elevation applied by Keane. Cue much badge-kissing celebration by player and 6,000 fans alike.

Moments later the away support had swelled to 6,500 and City again raided down the Wednesday right flank, Facey was afforded loads of space to advance into the penalty box. Delroy shaped to shoot, wrong-footing the keeper then squared the ball to the unmarked Elliott on the penalty box. Stuart's routine finish was scuffed horribly, but joyously it fell to Barmby beyond the far post who rolled the ball into an empty net. Young Nicky stood in front of the assembled masses (right in front of me, pleasingly) with a huge grin and arms pumping in celebration. Cue Total Tiger Mayhem.

We were up to 7,000 away fans as the half hour mark was reached and soon City took total control. The anonymous and uninjured Ndumbu was withdrawn and the powerful Lee Peacock introduced. While his strength and skill posed an occasional threat, both Cort and Delaney dealt with him well in general. His strike partner MacLean was entirely anonymous for most of the game, his first touch appalling. Soon after Peacock's introduction a long ball dropped on the edge of the Wednesday box, inside right channel. France rose astoundingly high to head the ball on into the penalty area, and the ball dropped 10 yards from the goalline, eight yards wide of the keeper's left hand post. There was Barmby with the ball dropped over his shoulder from behind him. He formed a remarkable airborne shape that allowed him to accept the ball from this impossible angle and drive a powerful shot across his body, over the keeper's despairing dive and into the net at the far post. It was quite simply amongst the finest finishes by a Hull City player that I have witnessed in 28 years of support - only Windass's swivelling effort at Wycombe comes close. Absolute pandemonium ensues in the away end, the home fans are muted.

We had more chances to score late in the half but to take them would've been greedy. The second half was generally more cagey, City deploying a solid two banks of four and accepting chances on the break, Wednesday getting plenty of possession but showing neither the spirit nor the organisation to do much with it. Despite carding two genuine wide players Wednesday threw barely any decent crosses into our box during the whole game, one winger was content to have as his matchday highlight a yellow card after a splendid hissy-fit culminated in chucking the ball at Joseph's face. One decent Wednesday cross was delivered with ten minutes to go, a long throw in in fact, and after some general defensive confusion the ball was lashed home at the far post by McGovern. At 2-3 and amid much fist-pumping by the players and noise from the reawakened crowd, an unlikely and undeserved equaliser looked a possibility. But this is the new Hull City, we are at our best for the big occasions. After a couple of minutes of huffing and puffing by the home side Ashbee got the ball on halfway and span a delightful through ball to Allsopp, who had replaced Barmby with 25 to go once the two goal wizard started getting some rough treatment. Allsopp rewound briefly to the early part of last season and advanced with pace and strength to the edge of the Wednesday penalty box before thumping an unerring left foot shot into the bottom corner of the net. Wednesday gave up, their supporters went home, City fans cheered their heroes off the pitch at the end.

It doesn't get much better than a night like this. The wonderful skills of Barmby. The splendid performances of Keane in an advanced role and Ashbee is a more withdrawn slot. The desire of France to prosper in front of the club that released him as a youngster. The sheer size and volume of the away support. The utter crapness of Guy Branston. These are heady Tiger days my friends, make the best of them while they last.

HULL CITY (4-4-2): Myhill; Joseph, Cort, Delaney, Dawson; France, Ashbee, Keane, Elliott; Barmby, Facey.  Subs: Allsopp (for Facey, 66), Wilbraham (for Barmby, 76), Lewis (for Keane, 87), Duke, Green.

Goals: Keane 14 (pen); Barmby 22, 43; Allsopp 83

Booked: Dawson

Sent Off: None

SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY: Lucas, Bullen, Branston, Collins, Heckingbottom, McGovern, O'Brien, Whelan, Brunt, Ndumbu-Nsungu, Maclean.  Subs: Peacock (for Ndumbu-Nsungu, 36), Poulter, Wood, Hamshaw, Armstrong.

Goals: O'Brien 9; McGovern 81

Booked: Branston, Brunt

Sent Off: None

REFEREE: C Webster

ATTENDANCE: 28,701