What appeared to be a dire, unwatchable 0-0 draw was livened up late by Yannick Bolasie's rather harsh red card, but it was Crystal Palace who got the goal, with Cameron Jerome teeing up Barry Bannan to get the visitors off to a fine start for the appointment of Tony Pulis as their new manager.
Hull City vs. Crystal Palace: Final score 0-1, Ten-man Palace sink Tigers
Hull City and Crystal Palace were playing out a dire scoreless draw until Yannick Bolasie got sent off to open things up - but it was the visitors who struck to win the game through Barry Bannan.
Palace had been second best in a poor game until the red card, but a sucker punch caught Hull out and was enough to give all three points to the South Londoners.
Yannick Bolasie showed some early promise for the visitors, but his decision-making could not live up to his speed and trickery. On two occasions he got down the left flank with ease, only to waste the opportunity by shooting from a ridiculous angle with teammates well-placed in the area.
The most entertaining moments of the first half proved to have little to do with the football. First Marouane Chamakh and Paul McShane suffered a clash of heads before both returning to play with headbands, until the former was forced off later into the half. Secondly, the crowd had their sleep interrupted by a group of home fans carrying a "We are Hull City" banner around the concourse in protest at the proposed name change by the club owner.
The second half appeared to yield some better opportunities, and Yannick Sagbo had the game's first real chance a few minutes in. The Ivorian wriggled free of the attention of Danny Gabbidon, but his shot was wide. Robert Koren also went close as the hosts began to grow into the game, but lashed a near-post volley over the bar. Hull then suffered a setback when McShane was forced off due to his injury in the first half.
Despite that, the hosts continued to push for a goal, and George Boyd's corner seemed to give Curtis Davies a fine chance to score, but the defender could only hack it to Sagbo, who couldn't get a shot away before Palace cleared their lines.
Palace had a rare opportunity to score after getting numbers forward into the Hull area, but Bolasie once again suffered from tunnel vision, and after attempting to get past Tom Huddlestone, leapt in with a clumsy challenge to keep the ball and was somewhat harshly sent off for his trouble.
Bolasie had been so poor that it was almost preferable to play with ten men rather than have him in the side - and so it proved shortly afterwards. Some excellent work from Cameron Jerome, leaving his marker for dead to get to the byline on the left hand side, followed by having the composure to keep his head up, allowed him to brilliantly pick out Barry Bannan on the far side of the area, and the Scot was left with a simple finish to put Palace ahead.
Hull looked beaten, but had a remarkable end to the game, twice going close through Sagbo and Gedo, with Julian Speroni pulling off some remarkable goalkeeping to keep Palace ahead. The ball fell to Jake Livermore with the last kick of the game and the goal gaping, but his thunderous drive smacked off the post and out of play to confirm the hosts’ defeat. It’s a good result for Palace, and a fine one for Tony Pulis to start work from.
Hull City: McGregor, Figueroa, Elmohamady, Davies, McShane (Rosenior 58’), Huddlestone, Livermore, Boyd, Brady (Graham 46’), Koren (Gedo 77’), Sagbo.
Crystal Palace: Speroni, Ward, Gabbidon, Delaney, Moxey, Jedinak, Dikgacoi (O’Keefe 75’), Bannan, Bolasie (Sent off 78’), Gayle (Puncheon 86’), Chamakh.
Goals: Bannan 81’
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