A very limited Birmingham side, ravaged by injuries, park the bus in pursuit of a goal but end up with all three as the Tigers deliver a feeble performance in front of a frustrated crowd.

Report by Adrian Hoggarth.

Do not ask for whom the bell tolls, Phil, for it tolls for thee. No man is an island, we are all part of the mainland, the continent of Hull City; but our manager stands alone now, bereft of ideas, cast adrift from his team and his supporters as he floats ever more rapidly towards his own unemployment.

Phil Brown has lost confidence in his players, the players have no confidence in Brown. Folan and Brown each had a pop at the other as our first million pound signing closed the exit door behind him. Brown saying Folan didn't look like scoring; Folan talking about a lack of respect. Cousin was equally keen to air his displeasure as he rather spectacularly failed to exit stage left. There was the falling out with King and the falling out with Geovanni. There was the team talk horribilis on the pitch at Eastlands. Over the summer, the side's lynchpin, Michael Turner, has apparently decided he needs to move on, and short sightedly we let him go. In other City-related transfer fiascos (for there were many), Marc-Antoine Fortune decided he preferred Scottish football to the Premiership, apparently just to work with Tony Mowbray. In contrast, Fraizer Campbell snubbed our advances despite working with Brown in our promotion season. Go figure. We've failed in attempts to sign so many players, and we have to wonder why. And then the answer came to me, from the cabby who took me to the pre-match watering hole (drained of optimism yesterday), a man who's picked them all up in his time, City players stretching back to the Horton era (mark one), and plenty of them recently:

"It's that Phil Brown that's the problem," he told me. "They all think he's a w*nker."

So there you have it, the view of the man in the Kingston upon Hull hackney carriage, and you can't argue with that.

Let's get it over with. If you're like me, you will already have deleted this match report and moved onto the next and more interesting email to have plopped into your inbox. It might be offering you enhancement to your alcohol-frazzled love muscle, it might be from your mate in deepest Africa, getting back in touch with you over that million dollar fortune that he needs to place in your bank account for a short while. It might even be from that place you hired a car from three years ago that keep offering you great deals for car hire in Benidorm despite the fact that you've unsubscribed from their marketing emails every week since then. Even that will make more pleasant, and indeed interesting, reading.

I hate reading stuff about how crap we are, but what am I supposed to do? Do you think I like doing this? It's not my fault that the performance was one of the most inept, lacklustre, hopeless displays I have seen from a City side since perhaps the Hateley era. But here we go. Heaping on the misery were:

Myhill
McShane Sonko Zayatte Dawson
Geovanni Olofinjana Marney Hunt
JVH Altidore

Forgive me for abbreviating the Dutchman but I really haven't the time for the whole name thing. Walking round the ground after the game I saw a few shirts with the number 29 on them, with the entire JVH name sprawling across the back. It's one of those things that probably seem like quite a funny idea at the time. And then isn't. But at least if we all buy shirts and pay to have his full name on the back of them our owners might make enough cash not to need to sell our best players and we might then get the accounts published. Who knows. Anyway, I digress. The football, I'm supposed to be talking about the football.

Look away now.

In front of 23,759, very few from the Midlands (but the more vocal they were), and under partially cloudy skies on a pleasant early autumn afternoon, we started in a largely formless manner. On 3 minutes, Hunt turned Carr and was tripped. Carr spent the rest of the game on a booking as a result of this, and I do not remember a single attempt to lure him into a similar challenge. I don't know, pretty basic stuff isn't it? Hunt swung it in from the left and the ball ricocheted around in the box but was eventually picked up by keeper Hart. On 5 Hunt fizzed in a shot from way out that Hart could only parry.

Not a bad start. The Brumsters looked pretty negative, were playing a 4-5-1 formation and looked as if they were there for a point. Go get 'em, City. Three points on a plate, drizzled with a mouth-watering garnish of confidence. And so we failed to consume them. Myhill was forced into a save low down to his left from a Benitez shot, Dawson clearing the rebound for a corner. Three minutes later and Bowyer cut inside on the left edge of our box and hit a sweet shot that was travelling rapidly into the top right hand corner, were it not for a superb leap and tip-over from Myhill. It was a real quality stop, moving quickly and with great reactions. It was in truth a great performance from Myhill, who pretty much alone deserves praise for his performance.

The game settled into a dull and formless quagmire of tedium. On 23 Marney hit a tame shot from far out. A better move on 26 saw McShane swing it across to Hunt. Some passing (remember that?) between Geo, Dawson and Olofinjana but the ball was cleared. Altidore had a shot blocked. On 29 Zayatte took the ball forward and gave it to Geo, who ran with it before knocking it in to JVH, but the ball was clipped away for a corner. On 38 JVH was beaten by Tainio to a ball dropped by Hart, but again all we managed was a corner. A minute later, Geo shot wide. A minute before the end of the half, and Myhill was again sharp in denying one of theirs. So, half time, a fairly dreadful first 45 and surely the only positive to take from it was that it couldn't get any worse.

On 46 a Geo free kick was saved low down and cleared for a corner. Two minutes later, Altidore cut inside and had a shot saved. Three minutes on, Altidore was fouled but the free kick from Hunt from just outside the area was Johnny Wilkinsoned over the bar. On 57 a patient build-up involving some crisp City passing and the ball found Geo, whose shot was well saved low to Hart's right.

On 59, Birmingham stepped it up, and started to take the game away from us. Parnaby sliced through the defence and hit a low shot that Myhill saved very well to his left. A cross came in from McSheffrey that was knocked out for a corner. The corner was knocked down and Bowyer connected with it from about 3 yards. Myhill somehow managed to push it away, an astonishingly fine piece of reaction goalkeeping.

The Brummies, sensing a chance to get something more than a point, took off McSheffrey and brought on O'Connor and changed to a more attacking system. City responded by bringing on Ghilas for Altidore. Altidore had had a poor game, his touch was clanging and his reactions slow. He's a young lad and doesn't look like he's adapted to the league yet. Better hurry up, lad, we won't be in it for long. On 67 a low, long ball from Hart was allowed to travel through the entire City midfield and defence without a touch before finding Benitez. He should perhaps have shot, but dithered and we cleared it. Barmby came on for Marney. Marney seemed to take the brunt of the post-match criticism from Brown, which seemed unfair. Yes, he was dreadful, but he wasn't the only one. Olofinjana, Ghilas and McShane combined well but McShane's cross was headed out by Carr. From the corner, the ball was cleared to Ghilas, whose shot, travelling at full moo, was deflected wide.

And then on 74 it all went horribly wrong. Benitez took the ball on the break, nutmegged McShane and tore into the box. His firm shot was blocked by a Myhill fist and out for a corner. Myhill's luck had to run out eventually (for he is not Jaaskelainen), and so it did, when O'Connor was allowed to rise pretty well unchallenged from the resulting corner and head it firmly down and past Bo's dive. 0-1, game over.

In response, we brought on Mendy for JVH. Ouch. We haven't seen the Frenchman fly for some time now, and he wasn't about to dust off his wings in this one. A ball was shovelled into the box by McShane and taken down by Hunt, who appeared to be hacked down from behind by Dann, but Phil Dowd didn't think so. No pen. On 84, what appeared to be a pass from the right avoided a gaggle of players from both sides before landing at the feet of Geovanni, who managed to spoon it wide from 6 yards out, with no Brum challenge. Shame it didn't work out for the Brazilian, who worked hard to make something happen despite being surrounded by players who seemed as though they are not yet on first name terms. With two minutes of the scheduled 90 remaining, a corner from Hunt was headed against the bar by Sonko and dropped to a melee of 38 players inside the six yard box, but no Tiger could project it goalwards.

Four minutes of added time, a flood of early leavers, and a resounding boo-ing sound at the full time whistle. You hear that, Phil? That is the sound of inevitability. That is the sound of your demise.

Nasty, ugly, relegatory.

Enough.

HULL CITY (4-4-2): Myhill; McShane, Sonko, Zayatte, Dawson; Geovanni, Olofinjana, Marney, Hunt; Geovanni; Vennegoor of Hesselink, Altidore.  Subs: Ghilas (for Altidore, 64), Barmby (for Marney, 70), Mendy (for Vennegoor of Hesselink, 78), Boateng, Halmosi, Kilbane, Warner.

Goals: None

Booked: None

Sent Off: None

BIRMINGHAM CITY: Hart, Carr, Dann, Parnaby, Johnson, Bowyer, Fahey, Ferguson, McSheffrey, Tainio, Benitez.  Subs: o'Connor (for McSheffrey, 62), Espinoza, Taylor, Phillips, O'Shea, Sammons.

Goals: O'Connor 75

Booked: Carr, O'Connor

Sent Off: None

REFEREE:    P Dowd

ATTENDANCE: 23,759