Manchester City 1-1 Hull City: Bullard Penalty Sees City Held Yet Again

A Jimmy Bullard penalty in the last 10 minutes secured an impressive point for Hull City at Eastlands and consigned Manchester City to their seventh consecutive Premier League draw.

The home side welcomed Robinho back into their starting XI for the first time since August and also recalled Carlos Tevez and Micah Richards. The visitors, meanwhile, made just one change bringing in Jimmy Bullard for George Boateng.

Indeed Hull, who came into the game on the back of a decent run of form, looked bright in the first half against a lethargic-looking City who took until midway through the first half to carve out a clear chance.

Striker Emmanuel Adebayor was the creator, teeing up Carlos Tevez inside the box but the Argentine saw his shot blocked by Tigers stopper Matt Duke.

Yet that opening seemed to spark the Citizens into life and on the half hour mark a lovely move involving Adebayor and Stephen Ireland saw Robinho dink a volley into Shaun Wright-Phillips whose acrobatic effort flew into the side netting.

However, the diminutive winger was to make amends in stoppage time at the end of the first half. Tevez found Wright-Phillips down the right and his speculative shot flew past Duke, albeit courtesy of a generous deflection off Anthony Gardner.

Unlike on his last visit to Eastlands, Tigers boss Phil Brown decided against giving his half-time team talk on the pitch but whatever he said at the break certainly appeared to have a huge impact on his players who were almost level with minutes of the restart.

Jozy Altidore freed Richard Garcia down the right and his shot beat Shay Given in the City goal but not Joleon Lescott who did superbly well to hoof clear off his own line.

Yet Mark Hughes’ men improved after the break and Wright-Phillips was denied a penalty after a tug by Hunt sent him tumbling in the box only for referee Lee Probert to wave the home sides’ appeals away.

With an hour gone Brown opted to change things sending on Nicky Barmby and George Boateng and the Tigers continued to look a threat on the break against a City side unable to find that crucial second goal.

Indeed as the City of Manchester Stadium grew nervous with their narrow lead Mark Hughes made changes himself, sending on Roque Santa Cruz and Craig Bellamy as he sought to turn his side’s dominance into goals.

Yet Hull continued to battle bravely and with less than 10 minutes they made the home side pay after Kolo Toure tangled with Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink leaving the Dutchman on the turf and the referee pointing to the spot.

Up stepped Bullard who made no mistake from 12 yards smashing the ball past Given to bring the scores level with previous little time remaining.

The home side attacked but could not find a breakthrough and were forced to settle for yet another stalemate which will continue the frustration at Eastlands. Hull, meanwhile, were left to celebrate another fine result which sees them unbeaten in their last three outings.