The Tigers bounce back in splendid style as they claim a hard-fought victory against play-of contenders Crystal Palace, a win that seals a top 3 finish and leaves an outside chance of automatic promotion on the final day.

Report by Adrian Hoggarth.

One game to go and this glorious season still hangs in the balance. We could still be champions, we could still go up automatically, or we could find ourselves with another three games to play before that Premiership place is finally ours. After last week’s disappointment, that could have killed off an otherwise tremendous season, we got straight back on the thoroughbred horse that is sweeping us to the promised land and despatched the form team in the division with an initially cautious but ultimately overpowering display. We’re really good, and we’re so much better than the vast majority of this division. Are we good enough for the league above? Oh yes.

In front of 24,350 and on a glorious spring afternoon that the KC Stadium thermometer gauged at 23ºC, we lined up with an attacking 4-1-2-3:

Myhill
Ricketts Turner Brown Pedersen
Ashbee
Marney Hughes
Folan Windass Campbell

So a strong team and an attacking formation. Fagan relegated to the bench and, in the continued and very untimely absence of Richard Garcia on the right, the manager chose to forego wingers in favour of a diamond in the middle of the pitch. Not a bad idea, given that we may soon be involved in the sort of one-off games that may require a change of formation to chase a game.

The game was preceded by a minute’s applause for the life of Billy Fletcher, the 10-year-old whose life was tragically taken on the road to Barnsley last week.

We started cautiously, shakily even, and on 3 a corner was flicked on (by one of ours, by one of theirs?) and thudded against the far post with Myhill nowhere, rebounding into the penalty area before being cleared. Our first serious attack found Campbell on the right, but his cross was too long for the advancing Folan. We were taking our time to settle, and looked a bit sluggish. Was it the heat, or the desire to play ourselves slowly into the game after last weekend? Who knows, but Palace were taking the opportunity to sit back and then attack us with the pacy Moses on the left and Sinclair on the right. Inside the first 10 both of them had their chances to run at the City defence and we looked stretched, struggling to settle. Ricketts in particular had a difficult first few minutes against Moses, before he learnt to get into him before the youngster got the chance to take him on.

But on 8 we replied to their hitting the woodwork by doing it ourselves. Windass clearly played for, and won, a free kick 30 yards out by allowing himself to be fouled as a long ball came through. The free kick, left of centre, was knocked over the wall and with Speroni a mile away it struck the crossbar and rebounded into the area, where Turner was unable to make a meaningful connection and the chance went away. After a slow start we were getting into it, and this trend continued throughout the game. On 12 Windass won the ball in our half and passed to Folan, whose first touch directed it Campbell-wards and released our super-loanee. Our Fraizer’s first touch let him down a little, a rarity, but he was still able to control it, cut back inside onto his left and fire in a shot, which was deflected before being cleared. They were still causing problems in attack, and a short corner routine on 15 led to Brown having to clear with a timely defensive header.

And then we took the lead. A direct clearance from Myhill on 17 was flicked on by Folan to Campbell. You’ve got to wonder what Warnock’s advice was to his defence: "This boy is good, lads, he’s a bit of a superstar at this level. So, when he gets the ball on the edge of the box, give him time to control it, turn, then stand off him while he lines up a shot into the bottom corner." The defence duly obliged. Campbell took the ball down on the edge of the box, and with time to control it, turn, and line up a shot, he measured a drive past the despairing dive of Spumanti and into the bottom left hand corner. Might have taken a deflection, might not. We didn’t care. 1-0 and it was Total Tiger Mayhem in the stands.

Two minutes later and we had the ball in the net again. A cheeky chip over the defence from Hughes was met by the side foot of Windass, who passed it into the net, but the linesman’s flag was already up and the celebrations of a large part of the crowd were cut short. Still, it was further evidence of how well we were getting into the game.

On 21 it all got a bit Warnock. Derry attacked Windass from behind, cruelly scraping his studs down our hero’s left peg in a disgusting tackle form behind. The ball broke briefly to us, but was quickly lost., at which point we were expecting the play to be stopped and taken back for our free kick. Not so. With Windass still on the turf Palace attacked with pace and a cross from Sinclair narrowly evaded the Palace front two. By this time, we were all screaming at the referee. Deano hobbled half the length of the pitch to make his point to the ref, who had done no more than yellow card the disgraceful John-McEnroe lookylikey Derry and wouldn’t even let the City trainer onto the pitch. Getting no sympathy from that quarter, Windass decided to confront the perpetrator himself, and it was all close to kicking off big-time as the referee’s next intervention was to get in between Windass and Derry as it looked as though Windass was going to flatten him. Ash got involved, Morrison got involved, and the situation got out of control briefly before Windass retired from the pitch to have his gashed leg sewn up and was replaced by the scarlet-booted Fagan. A word for referee Booth: weak. A man clearly content to take the path of least resistance rather than make any proper decisions, always happy to favour the defending team for fear of actually making a decent decision. Simply not good enough.

We attacked again minutes later; some skilful play from Folan in particular led eventually to his shot being blocked. But we weren’t having it all our way, and a through ball on 27 was diverted past Myhill by Turner and very narrowly wide of Myhill’s left hand post for a corner. A lucky escape, and indicative of our slightly nervous approach despite the attacking formation.

The niggling nature of the midfield battle reared up again on 29, as Ashbee nutmegged Derry, much to the amusement of the home fans. Derry reacted by taking a swipe at Ashbee on his way past, and Ashbee gave him a shove back. It was all a bit handbags, and the officials failed to spot anything going on, or at least failed to do anything about it.

Another city substitution on 31, with Doyle replacing the (presumably injured or unfit?) Pedersen. There were some concerns at this point that our threadbare squad was become a bit too exposed, with Doyle making a rare appearance in City colours. We had no reason for concern, however, as young Nathan put it an absolutely splendid display of attacking and defensive fullbackery, taking the opportunity presented and giving Phil Brown another defensive option as we try to maintain enough fit players to last the course of the season. A free kick on our left in the final third of the pitch was knocked in by Marney, but it was always just a bit too high for Fraizer, whose header cleared Peroni’s crossbar by some margin.

Then on 37 it was all square again. Sinclair broke into the box and passed to Morrison, who appeared to lose out to Brown. Somehow, and I confess not to have quite followed how, the ball instead of finding its way out to safety found its was back into the path of Sinclair, who despite the narrow angle swept it low past Myhill and into the goal. 1-1. Scrappy, and a goal too easily given away.

Within a minute, we could have been ahead again. Marney was fed the ball on the right, and Folan took off into the box signalling for a cross. Marney duly obliged, curling a ball in behind the defence that looked perfectly weighted for Folan to meet with his head and power goalwards. For reasons not entirely apparent to me, he chose instead to either control it or direct it with an outstretched boot, succeeding only in making himself look a bit foolish. One can’t help but wonder what Deano would have done in the circumstances. Met it with a meaty header almost certainly. A mark of the learning that Caleb still has to do in order to turn his pace, skill and power into a genuine goal threat that will bear fruit in the seasons to come.

The half petered out and, after just two minutes of stoppage time (despite the Windass fracas lasting about five), we went in level at half time. Someone won a grand at half time for being the 25 millionth Hull City fan, and I changed pens from one I'd borrowed from a hotel in Oxford that morning to the one I used to make notes on the Colchester win a few weeks back.

The change worked. The second half was all City. It was a magnificent 48 minutes of football that kept alive our hopes of automatic promotion and re-ignited the belief doused in the second half at Bramall Lane that we are capable of beating the best teams in this division even if we are forced to do so through the play-offs. Palace didn’t have a shot on goal, and were outplayed by a team confident in its own ability and able to get the ball on the pitch and pass it around with pace and skill. I love this Hull City side and the entertaining way in which they are playing football at the moment.

Fagan started off the half with a couple of decent runs down the left, but it was Palace who had the first decent chance. On 48 a free kick down our left, conceded by Doyle, was whipped in behind the defence by Watson into the path of Hudson, who could only get a defender’s touch on the ball and the chance was spurned. Straight down the other end and a Marney corner found its way back out to him after a low delivery, and his second cross found Turner, who could only head wide.

On 52 Fagan got involved again but his shot was blocked. He had a reasonable game today, doing the stuff he's good at, i.e. generally being ineffective but showing the odd bit of promise and absolutely no indication that he knows how to create or score goals. But I will happily eat these and many other words when he scores next weekend or at Wembley to send us up, with the aid of only a small blob of ketchup to take away the bitter taste.

Campbell, on the other hand, was everywhere. How many "Premiership stars" sent out on loan can be bothered to get back and make the number of defensive tackles he does? Very few, judging by the rubbish we’ve seen from others. See above. He was back helping out the defence on 53, dispossessing Sinclair and setting up a chance for Hughes to embark on a Ricky Villa-style dribble into the box that, sadly, was cut out. Save the real thing for Wembley, Dean…

The crowd, a little subdued since the equaliser, was lifted by some sterling defensive and attacking play by sub Doyle. Twice on 56 he robbed opponents of the ball to thwart Palace attacks, to the great appreciation of the KC crowd, and on 59 he won it again and kept going, eventually finding himself on the edge of the box but losing his balance and falling backwards as he wellied it over the bar. Encouraging stuff though from someone we've not seen much of yet. In between these Doyle-inspired moments, Campbell met a throw in mid air and produced an outrageously deft flick to Fagan, whose cross was blocked, and Palace had a couple of corners, the second of which was headed narrowly over by Hudson.

On 63 a real chance. Fagan won a free kick out on our right. Marney swung it in and found Turner right in front of goal six yards out. However, his usual accuracy in front of goal deserted him as he skewed the header wide to the right. With Stoke winning and three points required, would this be the missed chance that sent us into the play offs with a week still to play? We wondered.

With 23 to go, Hughes left the field and we delighted in the return of Saint Nick of Barmby. He looked a bit like he hasn’t played for a while, but he’s back just in time for the end of the season and his experience and genius could be exactly what we need if the season is extended next weekend.

We continued to attack, building the pressure professionally throughout the half. On 69 a super ball from Doyle found Campbell, whose run into the box was halted by a tackle that should have led to a corner but Mr Booth made the easy, but wrong, decision to award a goal kick. Infuriating. Ifill replaced Sinclair. Two minutes later the same players combined again, this time a Doyle long throw was cleared to Campbell, whose shot was saved for a corner. On 77 Marney flicked a ball over the defence and took the opportunity to go down just inside the box rather than chase after it. It didn’t look like a penalty from where I was, and it seemed unlikely that the referee was going to change his defence-friendly bias without something a bit more obvious to go on. At the other end, Watson hit a shot wide from outside the box, which was as good as it was getting for Palace; their own threat completely disappearing in the second half as the Tigers continued to press. On 78 Marney had a shot blocked, and three minutes later he knocked in a superb cross that would have been met by a flying Barmby had one of theirs not managed to flick it on at full stretch.

And then the game was ours. On 84 we won a free kick on our right about 30 yards from goal. It was taken short to Ricketts, who forced a corner. Marney swung it in and Ashbee, charging in from the edge of the area, met the ball at full moo and powered it past Speroni into the top right hand corner from 12 yards. Off he charged towards the bench, teammates in close attendance, as Total Promotion Mayhem erupted around the KC. What a goal it was, perfectly executed and equally perfectly timed, leaving us just a few minutes to defend.

Derry left the field and Scannell came on. Palace tried to press forward but we defended well and were dangerous on the counter attack. Barmby won a corner on 87 and when he received the ball from the corner seemed to be pulled back as he controlled it ready to shoot. Folan had a run from the half way line, getting in a powerful shot that Spumanti parried and had to scurry back to stop it from going over the line. And that was about it. In the three minutes of time added on, Watson spooned one over the bar but this was City’s game and City’s well-deserved win.

So there we are. One game to go, and the manager says we could still go up as champions. And I believe him. Yes, our final game looks the hardest on paper, away to a team with the best home record in the division, with only one defeat at home over the course of the season and a play-off place to play for. But we’re good. On top of that, this is a strange season and it seems unlikely that it’ll all just peter out with predictable wins for the top two. West Brom have a tricky game against Southampton on Monday, with the Saints in desperate need of a win, and Stoke have to play Leicester, who may be dreadful at the moment but may yet need a win themselves to stay up.

It’s not over yet.

HULL CITY (4-3-3): Myhill; Ricketts, Turner, Brown, Pedersen; Marney, Ashbee, Hughes; Campbell, Windass, Folan.  Subs: Fagan (for Windass, 24), Doyle (for Pedersen, 32), Barmby (for Hughes, 68), Walton, Duke.

Goals: Campbell 18; Ashbee 85

Booked: None

Sent Off: None

CRYSTAL PALACE: Speroni, Butterfield, Hill, Hudson, Fonte, Derry, Soares, Watson, Sinclair, Morrison, Moses.  Subs: Ifill (for Sinclair, 70), Scannell (for Derry, 87), Ashton, Hills, Bostock.

Goals: Sinclair 38

Booked: Derry

Sent Off: None

REFEREE:   R Booth

ATTENDANCE: 24,350