Stoke and Hull split the spoils

Stoke and Hull battled out a 1-1 draw at the Britannia Stadium in their first-ever top-flight meeting.

Ricardo Fuller's spot kick cancels out Marlon King's first-half opener

Stoke City and Hull City battled out a 1-1 draw at the Britannia Stadium in their first-ever top-flight meeting. Marlon King gave the visitors the lead against the run of play in injury-time at the end of the first half, but it was cancelled out by Ricardo Fuller's 72nd-minute penalty. Stoke edged an uneventful first half but fell behind in the first minute of injury time. Kamil Zayatte's free-kick was headed down by Michael Turner and flicked on by Dean Marney into the path of Marlon King who slotted past Thomas Sorensen. But Stoke drew level 18 minutes from time after Tigers keeper Boaz Myhill upended Fuller in the box. The striker ran on to a route-one through ball between Paul McShane and Zayatte and skipped by Myhill who caught his trailing leg. The penalty was not the most convincing, but it sneaked under Myhill's left hand after the keeper had guessed the right way. Rory Delap's long throws were predictably the likeliest threat of a goal throughout and Stoke's more physical approach always posed problems. The tone was set in the ninth minute when, having had one corner repelled by the Tigers defence, the Britannia Stadium crowd erupted at their first throw-in in attacking territory. Although Delap's delivery came to nothing it was a rare occurrence of the ball reaching the danger area in a shapeless first quarter of the contest. Such was the Hull concern at what has become Stoke's major source of goals that goalkeeper Boaz Myhill turned and surrendered a corner rather than concede a throw when pressured by Tom Soares in the 18th minute. Fuller's charge down the right flank had earlier opened up the game's first shooting opportunity but Salif Diao sliced well wide with a left-footed drive from 20 yards. While the slippery surface negated Hull's preference for the counter-attack on a number of occasions, as players lost their footing, Stoke's direct approach continued to cause problems. More pressure inside the penalty area led to Sam Ricketts and George Boateng relinquishing possession and Fuller was only just wide with a sidefooted effort from six yards. Even Hull's substitutes were intent on cancelling out Delap's missile launches into the area, with Dean Windass cheekily warming up in his vicinity as he prepared to hurtle one in seven minutes before the interval. It led to former Hull defender Leon Cort flicking a header goalwards but Wales international Myhill held low down at the foot of his left-hand post. When Windass, 39, repeated the tactic on the stroke of half-time, referee Keith Stroud produced the game's first yellow card. Hull had showed little of the attacking flair which has made them second top scorers away from home, with 14 in the top flight this season. But when Dean Marney's surge was halted inside the Stoke half, Sam Ricketts lifted the resulting free-kick into the area, Michael Turner headed down, Marney flicked on and Jamaica striker King steadied himself before curling into the top corner. Stoke had gone behind seven times in previous top-flight encounters this season and lost every one. But they came out intent on altering that statistic upon the resumption as Delap stepped up his aerial bombardment. When Hull full-back Paul McShane cleared into touch three minutes in, Delap's flat delivery was met by Cort's head and Myhill was forced to parry low down. But Brown's team looked more threatening after the break and one flowing move resulted in a Geovanni left-footer from long range being charged down. Yet a mistake at the back almost let the home team level shortly after the hour. Centre-back Kamil Zayatte and McShane clashed heads going for the same ball on the edge of the area and Fuller fed an unmarked Michael Tonge, on for only seconds as a substitute, but his cross shot fizzed across the six-yard box and eluded a sliding Delap at the far post. Hull responded with the best move of the encounter as Geovanni and King interchanged to tee up Marney, whose side-footer from the edge of the box was held low down by goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen. Stoke got back on level terms in the 73rd minute after striker Fuller's foray into the area resulted in him being brought down by goalkeeper Myhill. Fuller picked himself up and, although Myhill got a hand to his effort, celebrated his return to action with a goal. Hull's response was to throw on forward Daniel Cousin in place of George Boateng in search of a winner. The intent was immediately seized upon by Geovanni, who whipped an effort narrowly over the bar. But both teams settled for a point in their quests to upset the odds and remain Premier League outfits.

Stoke City	Team Statistics	Hull City
1	Goals	1
0	1st Half Goals	1
5	Shots on Target	2
6	Shots off Target	2
2	Blocked Shots	4
5	Corners	3
17	Fouls	18
0	Offsides	4
2	Yellow Cards	3
0	Red Cards	0
61.9	Passing Success	70.2
9	Tackles	12
88.9	Tackles Success	75
48	Possession	52
50	Territorial Advantage	50