Alexander brace for Clarets

Graham Alexander scored twice for Burnley as Hull City's Geovanni saw red and had a goal disallowed.

Captain leads by example as Brown's men defeated

Graham Alexander scored twice for Burnley as Hull City's Geovanni saw red and had a goal disallowed in a game marred by controversy. Burnley opened the scoring when Stephen Hunt was penalised for bringing down Tyrone Mears in the box. However replays showed the full-back looked to have tripped over his own feet. Alexander stepped up and fired the spot-kick into the bottom corner past Matt Duke's right arm on 20 minutes. Geovanni looked to have equalised for the visitors with a curling free-kick, however referee Mike Jones disallowed it for an infringement in the wall. The midfielder talked his way into the book as a result and moments later saw red for a late challenge on Steven Fletcher. Alexander, in his 100th game for the club, added his second of the game with a low drive past Duke. The game at Turf Moor marked the first ever Premier League meeting between the two sides and it began at a frantic pace. The hosts did get some early joy down both flanks with Chris Eagles and Robbie Blake providing testing crosses. But despite plenty of attacking intent, neither side's goalkeeper was really troubled. Hull's only real chance was a shot from Seyi Olofinjana which he did not quite catch on the edge of the box.

Soft penalty

The opener did arrive in the 20th minute when the referee gave a soft penalty after Mears powered into the box from a Wade Elliott pass and Hunt was punished for bringing down the Burnley full-back. Alexander converted to give the hosts the lead. Hull, who have taken just one point on the road this term, battled on and pushed in pursuit of an equaliser as some commanding goalkeeping from Brian Jensen helped Burnley weather the pressure. The Clarets carved out another golden opportunity with half an hour gone. A fine pass from Andre Bikey sent Eagles scampering down the right. Blake took up a clever position at the near post but his attempted chip sailed over Duke's crossbar. Elliott had a thunderous drive beaten away by Duke at the near post and Eagles was then denied by a smart stop as half-time approached. It was an untidy start to the second period but Hull created the first chance and should have pulled level. Striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink slotted the ball through for Olofinjana but instead of shooting the Tigers midfielder opted to play the ball square for Kamel Ghilas who was under-pressure and fired straight at Jensen.

Fumbled

A fine run and shot from substitute Bernard Mendy, which saw him beat several Burnley defenders on his way, was initially fumbled but eventually gathered by Jensen. Hull then had a goal ruled out in the 67th minute for pushing in the wall when Geovanni curled home a free-kick which Jensen could only push into the roof of his net. Just a minute later the Tigers midfielder was given his marching orders for a clumsy challenge on Fletcher which saw him pick up his second yellow. The Clarets pegged their struggling opponents back with Eagles orchestrating much of their attacking work down the right. And a second came in the 77th minute when Alexander fired home in spectacular fashion from 25 yards. Burnley introduced Fernando Guerrero during the closing stages and his pace proved a quite a threat. But the score-line remained the same and Adam Pearson, likely to be named as Hull chairman on Monday, watched from the stands as the hosts came away with the three points.

Burnley	Team Statistics	Hull City
2	Goals	0
1	1st Half Goals	0
4	Shots on Target	3
6	Shots off Target	1
3	Blocked Shots	4
8	Corners	1
13	Fouls	15
1	Offsides	5
1	Yellow Cards	2
0	Red Cards	1
71.8	Passing Success	62.3
16	Tackles	19
93.8	Tackles Success	78.9
60.7	Possession	39.3
60.9	Territorial Advantage	39.1