Hull City 2, Huddersfield Town 1

Jan 3 2005 By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

The clearest-cut chance of the match so far came after 17 minutes, when McAliskey received a neat pass from the left from Danny Schofield, checked, then rasped in a shot which Myhill did well to turn away for another corner.

Michael Keane's late challenge on Pawel Abbott led to a 20th-minute chance for the Town striker, who got into space when Brandon flicked on Carss' free-kick, only for Ian Ashbee to block his goalbound shot.

Hull looked dangerous sporadically, with ex-Town loan defender Damien Delaney shooting over after 22 minutes and Walters heading wide from an Elliott cross on 32.

But it was Town who looked the sharper in the build-up, with Schofield wastefully shooting too high after the ball broke kindly when McAliskey mis-controlled an Abbott pass on the half hour, then Abbott firing over from distance in the 37th minute.

Brandon finally showed how it should be done, keeping his head to drill home his fourth goal of the season left-footed when McAliskey squared Abbott's ball into the penalty box.

Town's 2,500 travelling fans were still celebrating when Northern Ireland international Elliott struck back.

From a quickly-taken throw-in, Town old boy Delroy Facey slid a pass into the path of Elliott, who wrong-footed Holdsworth and beat goalkeeper Paul Rachubka with an angled shot to record his 23rd Hull goal (he has also netted once for Northern Ireland) and eighth in five matches.

It was a get out of jail card for the home team, and having gone in at half-time relieved to be on level terms, they poured forward on the restart.

Facey had already headed wide from a good position before Wilbraham lost his marker Sodje and rose to head home Stev Angus's well-placed cross.

Clarke tested Myhill with a long-range left-foot shot after his 63rd-minute long throw was only partially cleared, and McAliskey (73 minutes) and Sodje (87) had headers saved, but Town were unable to put together any concerted pressure and Hull held out comfortably enough.

Next: Man of the Match >>>