Hull City's dream start to life in the Premier League continued as three second-half goals saw them beat West Brom.
City's flying start continues after seeing off Baggies
Hull City's dream start to life in the Premier League continued as three second-half goals saw them beat West Bromwich Albion.
The Tigers now find themselves level on points at the top of the table with Liverpool and Chelsea after a fifth away win of the season.
All the goals came in a 20-minute period in the second half. On-loan defender Kamil Zayatte volleyed in Dean Marney's corner to put the away side one-up after 47 minutes before Brazilian Geovanni doubled the advantage 15 minutes later after combining well with Marlon King.
Jamaican international King was rewarded for an excellent display minutes later when he waltzed through the home defence to seal the points.
The 3-0 scoreline was hard on Albion who hit the woodwork three times in an open game but they were punished for failing to take their chances. City were also indebted to a superb display by Boaz Myhill in the visitors' goal.
The result could hardly have been anticipated at the break after the hosts enjoyed a number of opportunities.
Ishmael Miller, recalled to add some firepower to the goal-shy home attack, proved a particular handful for the Hull defence and Myhill had to be at his best.
West Brom took an early grip on the game and earned their first opportunity from a free-kick on the edge of the box after Andy Dawson chopped down Miller.
Miller's deflected effort was easily gathered by Myhill but left-back Dawson had been injured in the challenge and was limping out of position as the Baggies attacked again.
Miller found Roman Bednar with a fine through ball but Ian Ashbee cleared over his own bar as the Czech looked for Robert Koren in front of goal.
The hosts were then denied by both Myhill and the crossbar from the resulting corner as Borja Valero's drive was parried and Jonas Olsson headed the rebound against the woodwork.
Bednar still almost scrambled the ball in by the post but Hull escaped and boss Phil Brown, with just 10 minutes gone, replaced the struggling Dawson with Sam Ricketts.
West Brom continued to press and James Morrison picked out Ryan Donk with a fine cross but the defender headed straight at Myhill.
Hull had a chance at the other end when West Brom failed to clear a King corner but Ashbee shot well wide.
Frustration
West Brom were incensed not to win a free-kick as Bednar went to ground under a challenge from Michael Turner as he chased a long ball. Perhaps in frustration, Miller clumsily went in on Zayatte to earn a yellow card.
Zayatte was not affected and flashed a header wide from a Dean Marney corner soon after.
Myhill made an even better save from Miller moments later after the striker beat Zayatte for pace on a powerful run into the box. He shot across goal but Myhill just managed to tip his effort wide.
Hull caught the hosts with the sucker punch two minutes after the restart as King broke clear and crossed low into the box.
Daniel Cousin failed to make contact but Marney touched to Geovanni and the Brazilian's effort almost crept in after a deflection wrong-footed Scott Carson, but the keeper recovered well to concede a corner.
Yet Hull are starting to find corners a rich source of goals and they benefited again as Marney's cross dropped between defenders and was volleyed in by Zayatte.
West Brom attempted to hit back but Donk saw another header deflected for a corner and Miller was denied by a superb Turner tackle.
Morrison then forced another superb save from Wales international Myhill with a low shot from 30 yards.
West Brom paid for their profligacy as Hull doubled their lead following another moment of inspiration from Geovanni after 62 minutes.
The former Barcelona midfielder knocked the ball forward for King, who brilliantly flipped the ball back in his direction with his first touch and Geovanni dived to head in.
Moments later it was 3-0 as King raced onto a poor header by Gianni Zuiverloon and calmly clipped the ball past Carson.
After that West Brom were barely a threat and failed to test Myhill as Hull's fans enjoyed the countdown to the final whistle and confirmation their remarkable run had continued.
| West Bromwich Albion |
Team Statistics |
Hull City |
| 0 |
Goals |
3 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 8 |
Shots on Target |
9 |
| 11 |
Shots off Target |
6 |
| 6 |
Blocked Shots |
1 |
| 14 |
Corners |
5 |
| 11 |
Fouls |
13 |
| 5 |
Offsides |
4 |
| 1 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 87 |
Passing Success |
70.1 |
| 11 |
Tackles |
12 |
| 90.9 |
Tackles Success |
75 |
| 58.1 |
Possession |
41.9 |
| 55.1 |
Territorial Advantage |
44.9 |
|
