Mauled By The Tigers

Saturday 28th January 2023: EFL Championship: MKM Stadium: Hull City vs QPR

There is only one phrase to properly sum up Hull City Fc’s MKM Stadium; dreadful name, spinetingling atmosphere. The home fans made this one of the most enjoyable games I have attended in such a long time. Hull fans rock.

Fuelling them to create their incredible wall of noise was the belief that their recent improvement was just the start of an inexorable rise up the table. There was genuine hope among the home faithful that they could rise from their current 16th place all the way upto at least the playoffs by season’s end, if not further. Seeing ex-player Liam Rosenior return to take up the reigns in the dugout in November was yet another sign that they were now on the right track

The astute acquisition of Aaron Connolly on loan from Brighton for the rest of the season only served to fuel this feeling. Connolly has shown a ton of promise in his 3 appearances since joining the Tiger’s ranks and today he planned to celebrate his 23rd birthday by showing QPR exactly how it feels to be mauled by the Tigers.

Oh yeah, Queens Park Rangers were the visitors to the East Riding for this match. They sat 4 points and 3 places above their hosts at kick-off and in dreadful form. The last time they managed to win a game was back on December 17th; 1-0 away at Deepdale.

Hull’s form was no better as they have also only won once since the league restarted after the World Cup break; 4-1 away at rock bottom Wigan. They had the vociferous home support to push them on though and that proved to be the difference in this one. Well, that and Connolly on fire.

The Tigers tore into the visitors off the bat and set themselves on the way to mauling their visitors. With unstoppable momentum behind them and the unwavering support of their boisterous fans it took just 10 minutes for the host’s birthday boy to give them the lead. He provided the finishing touch to a sweeping team move. Just 10 touches were needed to take the ball from halfway to Connolly’s feet by the penalty spot. He stroked the ball home, past 3 defenders and the despairing dive of Seny Dieng.

Hull prowled all over the pitch in the first half, not giving the rangers a seconds rest, but were unable to increase their lead before half-time. Things were so bad for QPR in the first half, that Neil Critchley plumped for a double change at the break. This made it 3 changes made with 45 minutes still to play, having already lost Kenneth Paal to injury in stoppage time.

Sinclair Armstrong, Andre Dozzell and Jake Clarke-Slater were the trio trusted to turn things around for the visitors. It looked to be working for a full 15 minutes before normal service was resumed.

Hull had really been on the back foot in the second half, but a Tiger is made more dangerous when it’s backed into a corner and in the 62nd minute the Tigers bit back. Regaining possession just inside the opposition half the ball was played up to Connolly, the QPR defender’s wrongly assumed he was offside, who played to the whistle and flicked the ball to his right for Ozan Tufan to run onto. He tried to slip it across the box for Oscar Estupian to tap in at the back post, but the ball never made it.

In his haste to prevent this from happening Rob Dickie slid in to deflect the ball away from the expectant Estupian, only to succeed in slamming it into his own net. Hull were 2-0 up 2 minutes after the hour mark, with their first decent attack of the half and had barely had to do anything for it.

Their taste for mauling opponents was renewed by this goal though and with 120 seconds Connolly’s birthday brace was complete. QPR’s resolve had been so thoroughly destroyed by the 2nd Hull goal that they offered no resistance to the third. A simple punt up the middle of the pitch dissolved the visitor’s defence to nothing and with all the time in the world, not to mention the freedom of the whole East Riding, Connolly was able to pick his spot and caress the ball into the bottom right corner with consummate ease.

With the Birthday brace complete for Connolly he was taken off 6 minutes from time to the most insane wall of sound I have ever experienced at a football ground. He was deservedly named Man Of The Match, just to put the cherry on top of his birthday cake. A hat-trick was just out of his reach, with Dieng twice grabbing the ball off his head as he went to nod it in.

In the final 20 minutes Dieng was the only thing stopping Hull adding to their lead, but no bother they still ran out 3-0 winners at half-time. The hosts ran rangers ragged for 75 minutes in this match and were incredible value for their first win of 2023.

The hosts owed the victory in no small part to the best atmosphere I have ever experienced at a football match.

If you get the chance to go to Hull, in either the home or away end, I encourage you to do so. They combine a relaxed outlook on outsiders with a visceral passion for their team in a way few other fans can. It’s even better when the opposition is ‘getting mauled by the Tigers’ of course, but I can’t guarantee that part of the experience.