Source: Telegraph
Middlesbrough register crucial win over Hull
This victory, only the Teesside club's second in 20 attempts in the Premier League, could still end up being too little, too late, but for the time being it renews hope of if not so much a great escape, then certainly a nail-biting one. The gap to safety has been more than halved to two points, and hope springs eternal. [LNB]"We knew one win could change things and an unbelievable amount of work this week went into that result," Gareth Southgate, the Middlesbrough manager, said. "Having looked out of it, we're back in the relegation fight now. [LNB] Related ArticlesSouthgate to 'keep fighting'Bolton 4 Middlesbrough 1Boro woe continues after FA fineBoro chairman to back SouthgatePhil Brown says its vital for Hull City to stand tall and fight for Premier League survivalPremier League round-up: Andrei Arshavin inspires Arsenal"We had to be men today and stand up to answer questions we've posed internally and ones that have been asked externally. It was a crucial win and the players deserved it because we stood up to most things that were thrown at us." [LNB]If Middlesbrough are belatedly enjoying some upward mobility, Hull are heading rapidly in the opposite direction. A single victory in 16 league games means they could yet accompany Middlesbrough into the Championship, and their inability to gain any kind of momentum just when it matters is likely to see them embroiled in the battle for survival until the very end of the season. [LNB]They failed to make the most of the ascendency they enjoyed in the wake of Manucho's deserved equaliser, the forward heading home Nicky Barmby's centre from a dozen yards to cancel out Tuncay Sanli's third minute opener, this after the Turk followed up to register his seventh goal of the season from a narrow angle after Matt Duke saved from Afonso Alves. [LNB]Geovanni's long-range effort was deflected narrowly over, while Manucho fired wide as he followed up Brad Jones' save from Craig Fagan as the second goal proved elusive and ultimately terminal to Hull's hopes of earning a tangible reward. [LNB]Matthew Bates, unmarked six yards out, poked the hosts back in front on the half hour from a Stewart Downing corner, the awarding of which was disputed by Hull, who claimed Tuncay had applied the final touch. [LNB]The second half was understandably more circumspect, Downing curling a free-kick narrowly wide before he was denied late on by a strong hand from Duke. Dean Marney, the Hull substitute, had a header deflected just over, but it was to prove Hull's final chance of salvation. [LNB]Marlon King, the striker who left Hull in acrimonious circumstances in January, took his revenge in the most satisfying manner, beating an exposed Duke with an angled after a mistake by George Boateng, the former Middlesbrough player as injury time beckoned. [LNB]"To a large extent we cut our own throats," Phil Brown, the Hull manager conceded. "We gifted Middlesbrough three points. The pressure was cranked up and they responded to it better than us." [LNB]
