Hull City were up 2-0 by the 13th minute, but the visitors had pulled even before the half-hour mark. In the end it was an own goal from Hull that gave Manchester United all three points.
The first half sent up a thrill a minute -- or it sure seemed that way for the first half-hour. Before five minutes were up, Hull City capitalized on the visitors’ defensive weaknesses. Alex Bruce climbed above Patrice Evra to nod on Tom Huddlestone’s inswinging corner. James Chester got his foot on the end of Bruce’s header to volley in the opening goal.
Upon review, however, it was clear the corner never should have been given. A tangle between Tom Cleverly and Ahmed Elmohamady prompted the referee to award the kick to Hull, but replays showed it was Elmohamady that knocked the ball out of play.
Unfortunately for United, goal-line technology could do nothing to help in this instance, and the visitors were left chasing the game. They made it worse for themselves in the 13th minute when failing to clear a rather weak shot from David Meyler. With the ball pinging around the area, Jonny Evans got a foot to it...only to knock it past David De Gea.
An injury to Rafael gave David Moyes the opportunity to change his squad’s approach to the game. Rather than make a like-for-like switch, the United manager brought on Adnan Januzaj to introduce a more attacking element into the match. The change worked.
Moments later, the youngster had won a free kick, leading to United’s first goal. Chris Smalling climbed over his marker, nodding in the free kick from Wayne Rooney to pull his side within a goal of Hull.
And, by the 26th minute, Rooney himself had put his side level. It was a lovely goal from the United man, who took advantage of a failed clearance by Curtis Davies. Rooney hit the ball on the half-volley, sending in a swerving strike that smashed under the crossbar and fell behind Alan McGregor.
The second half brought plenty of action as well, although not nearly as many goals. In fact, there was just one: the one that gave all three points to Manchester United.
In the 63rd minute, Bruce very nearly put his side back in front, but his header smacked off the post. United quickly took the ball to the other end, flustering the Hull defense.
Maynor Figueroa completely mistimed a challenge on Ashley Young, allowing the winger to put a lovely ball into the area. Chester, scorer of the first goal for the Tigers, rose up in an attempt to keep Rooney from scoring a second. Instead his header bounced past substitute keeper Steve Harper and into the back of the net. The Hull City defender was very nearly in tears after his mistake.
Hull did their best to grab their share of the spoils in stoppage time. Antonio Valencia got himself sent off in the 90th minute, receiving a second yellow for petulantly kicking away the ball. The hosts took advantage and Chester was nearly able to atone for his mistake, but De Gea was there to make the save.
Hull City: McGregor (Harper 45), Chester, Bruce, Davies, Elmohamady, Livermore, Huddlestone, Meyler (Koren 45), Figueroa (Boyd 73), Sagbo, Graham
Manchester United: De Gea, Rafael (Januzaj 18), Smalling, Evans, Evra, Valencia, Cleverley, Fletcher (Hernández 63), Young (Carrick 78), Rooney, Welbeck
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