Tottenham’s Nacer Chadli and Danny Rose ensure grim day for Hull City
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Version 0 of 1. For Steve Bruce, it now comes down to one match against Manchester United, the club at which he gave his life and several body parts during his playing days as a rugged centre-half. He and Hull City must beat United at the KC Stadium on the final day of the Premier League season next Sunday and hope that Newcastle United or Sunderland fluff their lines if they are to avoid the drop into the Championship. Hull would need Newcastle to fail to beat West Ham United at home or Sunderland to lose at Arsenal on Wednesday and then Chelsea at the last. The hope has not yet died but this was an afternoon of deflation for Hull against a Tottenham Hotspur team who hardly excelled but pieced together a couple of nice moments in the second half to decide the game. Related: Jake Livermore has let himself and everyone down, says Steve Bruce Érik Lamela and Ryan Mason teed up goals for Nacer Chadli and Danny Rose respectively, leaving Tottenham on course for another Europa League campaign. The focus was on the battle-hardened Bruce and his players’ increasingly frantic attempts to dig themselves out of the mire. He said that Hull had played “manfully” and they created chances, with Nikica Jelavic hitting the woodwork in the 19th minute. But not for the first time, they lacked the requisite ruthlessness. After Chadli’s opening goal, the die felt cast. Hull have never won a Premier League game in May. They have to break the jinx against United or face the consequences. “I haven’t beaten Man U in 17 years [of management],” Bruce said. “Maybe there’s a twist in it. Maybe Man U owe me something after wrecking my knee and my hip and my ankle. We’ve got to try and be positive.” On the corresponding Saturday last year, Hull were at Wembley for the FA Cup final against Arsenal but that heady day and the optimism fired by a £42m spending spree last summer feel as if lifted from another era. The mood is one of desperation and the revelation that the midfielder Jake Livermore had returned a positive test for cocaine during the week had hit everyone hard, not least Bruce. The quality of this game was low but from Hull’s point of view, the result was the only thing that mattered. Mauricio Pochettino paced his technical area, and the Tottenham manager howled his frustration at the errors from his players before the goals. It was that sort of afternoon. Hull had their moments in the first-half against a defence that continued to give the home crowd palpitations and, but for the upright, they would have led. Ahmed Elmohamady crossed and after Livermore’s replacement, David Meyler, had thrown himself at the ball, it fell to Jelavic at the far post. The striker, starting his first match in two months, slammed his shot against the top of the near post. Hull had a small purple patch. Moments earlier, after Federico Fazio’s poor clearance, Dame N’Doye’s cross had been just too heavy for Jelavic, whose header, on the stretch, was off target, while there was the flicker when Jelavic burst through only for Eric Dier to snuff out the danger. Jelavic also sent an overhead kick wide. But that was about as good as it got for them. Lamela was the most prominent performer and he was at the heart of the slim pickings for Tottenham in a forgettable first half. His early shot was deflected wide and he sent over a 13th-minute corner but the unmarked Dier headed wastefully wide. Lamela almost got on the end of a cross from Harry Kane while he scooped an effort past the post following good work by Mason. Related: Sunderland 0-0 Leicester City | Premier League match report Tottenham roused themselves in the second half and it was a moment of high class from Lamela that got them in front. The weight of the through-ball that he slipped through on James Chester’s blindside was matched by the vision. Chadli darted in, rounded Steve Harper and tucked home his 13th goal of the season for Spurs. The travelling fans fell silent; Bruce looked crestfallen and things got worse for Hull shortly afterwards. Again, the assist was stamped with quality, Mason chipping delicately over the Hull back-line and Rose timing his run and an eye-catching right-foot volley that fizzed into the roof of the net. Rose sported a new, hi-viz red hairstyle. Nobody in amber and black had spotted him. Hull toiled on with Paul McShane glancing a header wide from Tom Huddlestone’s cross. There was also the remarkable scramble in the 70th minute, when the substitute Abel Hernández hit Dier with one shot and then saw his follow-up cleared off the line by Fazio. On the third bite, N’Doye’s shot dribbled wide. Bruce put his head in his hands. Hull are on the brink. |