A dominant first half display by the visiting Ipswich side is made a mockery thanks to Jay-Jay Okocha's skills and passing, in the end the gave up and settled for a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the resurgent Tigers.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, pets and inanimate objects. I give you the Jay-Jay Okocha Show. Troublesome opposition teams giving you a good paggering? Worry not, for Jay-Jay will weave his magic and put them on the back foot. Need a goal to get ahead in a game? No problem, a shimmy and a pass from Jay-Jay will soon set up a goal for one of ours. Need to run the clock down once in the lead? Jay-Jay can help here too, taking on players and killing time before delivering another killer pass.

There were other people involved in this victory, that's for sure. But at the very heart of it was Jay-Jay Okocha, a player that has improved significantly in every game he's played for Hull City so far. He may already be the most effective attacking threat in the Championship right now. If he continues to improve and attains the levels of performance that Bolton Wanderers enjoyed a few years ago, he could propel Phil Brown's collections of Premiership has-beens and lower league wannabes into a genuinely potent force in the top half of the table. This man is, simply put, capable of being one of the finest footballers that Hull City have ever put on a pitch.

It may seem partial to laud only JJ on a day that Henrik Pedersen bustled his way to a brace (and could well have converted that up to a hattrick) and Wayne Brown opened his City account in towering style, but none of these efforts were without the craft of Okocha in their conception. The Nigerian was at the heart of everything good about City.

Not that it looked very likely by 12:50pm, twenty minutes into a match moved at the shortest of short notice by the vagaries of Sky Sports and the Rugby Football League. It's tempting to shout "gerrorf moi laand" to these peanut hugging hoons, but the fact is that the KC Stadium would not exist without them so this first genuine inconvenience in the five year history of the stadium is perhaps not too bad a price to pay. Anyhow, the early kick-off evidently suited the lively Ipswich side more than the lethargic Tigers, for whom Ashbee and Marney ceded all kinds of possession to their capable counterparts Garvan and Miller, allowing them to dictate play, set up ex-Tig Jon Walters for a bit of Andy-Dawson-frailty-exposing and generally propel the Tractor Boys into a dominant position. Under the cosh initially were:

Myhill
Ricketts Brown Turner Dawson
Garcia Ashbee Marney Pedersen
Okocha Windass

After 5 minutes of gentle probing by both sides the first feint sniff of goal was City's as the returning Windass chipped a ball over the Ipswich defence into Garcia's path. The Aussie's first touch was poor though and the potential free shot with the left foot from the penalty spot area was converted into an Ipswich goalkick. Then Ipswich assumed brief but total control. The aforementioned Garvan and ex-Hartlepool and Sunderland playmaker Tommy Miller pulled the strings but equally influential was the nippy and strong Pablo Counago up front, whose movement of the front line fazed Brown and Turner completely for a while. On 6 a misdirected Turner free kick was cleared to summer City target Alan Lee (who was ineffective all afternoon and withdrawn just past the hour) and he passed to Counago in space between City's scattered defence. Counago advanced to the penalty box before rolling a pass into the path of left winger Roberts who outmuscled Ricketts for the only time today and fired a low shot that was blocked by Myhill's trailing leg - Roberts, simply put, should have scored.

Moments later Ashbee inexplicably dipped out of a routine tackle on half way and the away team were off again, incisive passing slicing through City's defence and culminating in Miller thumping a low shot into the base of Myhill's post and away. Then more passing resulted in Walters and another benefiting from from a two-on-one with Dawson wide on the right, and Walters cross was headed over the crossbar by Turner. Ipswich were in the clear ascendancy and an opener appeared inevitable. It came. It was crafted by Jay-Jay.

City's first corner was cleared back to Okocha down by the corner flag and with JJ in space he fired a rising shot from the tightest of angles that would have quite possibly removed the far net stanchion from the goal frame had it not been tipped over by Jock ex-Cardiff keeper Alexander. The next corner was taken short and again swung over by Okocha with pinpoint accuracy onto the bonce of the unmarked Pedersen, centrally located eight yards out, who gleefully opened his City account with a powerful unchallenged header. City were being thumped, but were 1-0 up.

The pattern continued, Ipswich flowed forward with menace and City clung on desperately. On 14 Walters again found space on the right and rolled a reverse pass into the path of Miller whose shot was parried by Myhill down by his near post, only for the same player to snatch at the resulting half chance and poke it wide under pressure from Myhill and Brown. Counago then decided he fancied a pot at goal and dropped short to receive a Garvan pass before spinning adeptly past Turner and firing a low 20 yard shot a foot wide. On 18 City's passing on halfway broke down and the ball was rapidly switched to Walters wide right with Dawson stranded up field. The nearest defender was Ashbee, who ran alongside Walters but never appeared interesting to moving too close to the nippy Scouser and instead ushered him goalwards. Walters eventually got tired of this free run he was being given and crashed a 16 yard shot across the face of goal. On 20 a rare show of strength by Lee held off Brown and he lolloped down to the by-line on the right and crossed, only to see the ball half-cleared to Garvan 20 yards out who struck a low deflected shot onto the outside of Myhill's post. Simply put, Ipswich were giving the Tigers a good seeing to and even City's goal appeared unable to quell their ardour.

Stop. JJ time.

On 28 Okocha controlled a ball and threaded an almost unbelievable pass between Ipswich players into the path of Ricketts down the right. The Welsh equestrianist, again superb throughout today, saw his cross deflected away for a corner that was cleared. Then a minute later Garcia trapped a Myhill clearance as his startlingly ginger foe Casement offered little resistance and some neat passing via Windass and Okocha resulted in Pedersen finding space in the inside left channel only to his shot smeared horribly into the Ipswich fans behind the goal. Henrik had space for two touches and this wastefulness in the teeth of a Tractorish onslaught was not appreciated.

But as the game entered its second quarter Ipswich's attacking waves were quelled and City competed more evenly. Principal amongst the reasons for this were Ashbee's emergence from his slumbers and Windass's hard work to close down the deep-lying midfielders that had been the source of Ipswich's forward play, especially the havoc caused by Walters. Eventually on 40 the momentum swung back to the home side as Okocha received a Myhill kick and twisted himself into a few improbable shapes to retain possession before rolling a pass to Windass. Dean's not short of footballing vision either, and he crafted a delightful through ball that evaded Bruce's attempted interception and found Pedersen in space behind the defence. This time he took a moment to take a controlling touch before smacking a low drive past the static Alexander to double the Tigery advantage.

Minutes later and the game was killed off. Okocha received a short pass wide left on half way and effected a quite outrageous drag back and back-heeled flick that sent the Ipswich right back into a flat spin and fed the intelligent Pedersen into acres of space down the left wing. Henrik galloped willingly into the box, dragged the ball onto his right foot and struck a low 16 yard shot that was deflected clear for a corner. This corner was taken short once more and when returned to Okocha he looked up a swung another sumptuous cross directly to the shining pate of Wayne Brown whose deft nod of the head deflected it sweetly into the far side netting for 3-0.

I can't City were dominant and leading 3-0. I can't even say that City were the better side and leading 3-0, they weren't. But - simply put - City had Jay-Jay Okocha and Ipswich didn't.

A minute later and Lee found space and time on the right to roll a pass back and across the face of goal into the path of left back Harding, whose low shot was sweetly struck and rattled past Myhill's despairing dive. Not even the most one-eyed City fan could have denied Ipswich a solitary goal for their first half efforts, surely. They trudged off wondering how this could all have happened to them.

They emerged again a largely spent force. Counago was generally quiet up front in the second half, Lee had switched off completely and Miller never held the same spell over Ashbee that he did in the first half. Alongside Okocha it was Marney that emerged as the dominant force as 45 minutes of powerhouse running, tackling and passing delivered what is perhaps his most impressive performance in Black and Amber to date. It may seem perverse to many that Bryan Hughes is left on the bench while Marney starts, but young Dean is evidently intent on proving his worth and justifying his first XI spot. Genuine competition for first team places - as Snoop Doggy Dogg comments "it brings the best out of a per-lay-yar".

The second half saw City dominate but actual chances were few and far between. On 56 Windass controlled on his chest and fed the ball to Okocha but his 30 yard was deflected wide. Pedersen showed superb strength to burst through two tackles and fins himself in space behind the Ipswich back line but his cross was skied by Garcia. Ricketts burst forward with the ball and advanced 60 yards holding off several challenges along the way before his cross/shot squirmed past the far post just out of Windass's reach. Both teams made a succession of substitutes but the game's pattern was not changed significantly. McPhee came on for Windass and rumbled around willingly but ineffectively. Hughes came on for Pedersen, who evidently enjoyed his first KC ovation, and didn't offer much apart from heading a solitary chance wide and occupying an area on the left side of midfield and play the occasional return pass to Ashbee. Livermore came on for Okocha, sheered to the rafters by the City fans, and looked hungry and mobile and once found space in the Ipswich to nod a header into the side netting. Ipswich introduced their speedy sub duo Peters and Haynes but then proceeded to pass to them very infrequently. When Haynes did get the ball he seemed intent on kicking it off for a City throw on most occasions.

The final chance of note came on 87 when the willing Walters, now part of the central front 2 but tackling Garcia deep inside his own half, advanced to half way and found Haynes wide on the City right. Haynes advanced into the box but his attempted cross was charged down by the retreating Dawson.

Ipswich will be scratching their heads on Monday wondering how they lost that game so comprehensively. I know why - and he's so good they named him twice.

HULL CITY (4-4-2): Myhill; Ricketts, Turner, Brown, Dawson; Garcia, Ashbee, Marney, Pedersen; Okocha, Windass.  Subs: McPhee (for Windass, 66), Hughes (for Pedersen, 68), Livermore (for Okocha, 78), Delaney, Duke.

Goals: Pedersen 11, 40; Brown 45

Booked: None

Sent Off: None

IPSWICH TOWN: Alexander, Casement, De Vos, Bruce, Harding, Walters, Garvan, Miller, Roberts, Counago, Lee.  Subs: Haynes (for Roberts, 59), Peters (for Lee, 66), Legwinski (for Miller, 87), Wilnis, Supple.

Goals: Harding 45

Booked: None

Sent Off: None

REFEREE:  L Probert

ATTENDANCE: 15,456