Hull 3 Southend 1: Jozy Altidore off the mark as Tigers ease through

Published Date: 26 August 2009 Tom Cairney admitted he was 'over the moon' after marking his senior debut with a goal in the Tigers' 3-1 Carling Cup victory against Southend United. Given the opportunity to shine in midfield, Cairney took just seven minutes to put City 1-0 up and while further goals from Jozy Altidore and Geovanni saw Phil Brown's side through, it was 18-year-old Cairney who grabbed the headlines. "I'm over t ADVERTISEMENT he moon about what happened," said Cairney. "I didn't touch the ball in the first few minutes and I was thinking to myself that I had to get into the game. "I got the ball on the edge of the box and shot and luckily it went into the top corner. I was over the moon when I saw it hit the net and I just ran away to the bench to celebrate. "I thought about passing the ball because there was somebody to my left and that would have been the easy option. But I fancied taking the shot on and like I said, luckily it found the net. "It was the best moment of my short career so far." Despite his moment in the spotlight, Cairney says he hasn't reset his goals for the season and will try to make his mark in the reserves in order to push for a regular place in the first team squad. "My aim at the start of the season was to just push on as much as I could and learn from the senior pros in the squad like Nick Barmby. "The aim is to get in as many first team squads as possible and any time on the pitch is a bonus. "I haven't set any different goals (after last night). I'll still try to stamp my mark in reserve team games so that the gaffer might put me in more squads, but if we have a good cup run, we'll take it from there." On an otherwise impressive night for the former Nottingham Forest and Leeds United trainee, one of the few areas that needed improvement was his goal celebration, as Cairney explains. "I was meant to run over to Yann Ekra (young striker) but he wasn't on the bench. He was in the squad, but he didn't make the bench. So I went for the other Frenchman (Bernard Mendy) instead!" MATCH REPORT +++ MATCH REPORT +++ MATCH REPORT +++ MATCH REPORT +++ Tom Cairney took just seven minutes to find the back of the net on his senior debut as the Tigers made it through to round three of the Carling Cup with a 3-1 win against Southend United at the KC Stadium on Tuesday night. Cairney's strike was added to by Jozy Altidore and Geovanni, although a spirited Southend side made sure it wasn't always a comfortable night for the Tigers. Cairney, on from the start, wasn't the only one for whom this was a special night as Will Atkinson made his first senior start with City making 11 changes to the side that started against Bolton at the weekend. City Through To Round Three Posted on: Tue 25 Aug 2009 Tom Cairney took just seven minutes to find the back of the net on his senior debut as the Tigers made it through to round three of the Carling Cup with a 3-1 win against Southend United at the KC Stadium on Tuesday night. Cairney's strike was added to by Jozy Altidore and Geovanni, although a spirited Southend side made sure it wasn't always a comfortable night for the Tigers. Cairney, on from the start, wasn't the only one for whom this was a special night as Will Atkinson made his first senior start with City making 11 changes to the side that started against Bolton at the weekend. Jozy Altidore was in from the off, as were Craig Fagan, Liam Cooper and Nicky Featherstone. Nick Barmby captained the side. Peter Halmosi played at left back with Fagan the main partner for Altidore up front. A debut turned into a dream for Cairney inside eight minutes. Picking up Barmby's pass following some neat build up play, the young midfielder curled a beautiful left-footed shot over goalkeeper Steve Mildenhall and into the top corner of the net from 20 yards. As you would expect, City were looking comfortable in possession with Cooper getting plenty of touches at the back. Chances, though, were few and far between. Doyle was booked for a 31st-minute challenge on Franck Moussa which gave the visitors a chance to load the box, but their set-piece routine failed abnd City were able to break away. Barmby's pass almost sent Altidore clear, but the away defence recovered before the American striker could get a shot away. Jean Francois Christophe was then booked for a late tackle on Featherstone. City doubled their lead with a free kick in the 42nd minute. Altidore won the set-piece and from it, he drilled a low shot just inside Mildenhall's right-hand post from 25 yards to register his first goal in black and amber. But it was far from game over as Southend pulled a goal back just before the break. The ball dropped for Moussa on the edge of the box and he fired home past a motionless Tony Warner. Half Time: Tigers 2-1 Southend The first action of the second half saw Atkinson booked for a foul on Christophe. City were still prodicing some neat passing play but without really troubling the Southend back line, although Altidore did bring a save out of Mildenhall with a low shot from distance. City's first change of the evening came after an hour as Geovanni replaced Barmby. Warner was called into action on 64 minutes when Alex Revell was played into the box, the goalkeeper rushing off his line to block the striker's shot. The keeper was forced to make another save moments later after Featherstone had carelessly gifted possession to Lee Barnard. The Southend man advanced with the ball before firing straight at Warner from 25 yards. As Southend continued to go in search of an equaliser, a cross from the left somehow went all the way through to Anthony Grant at the back post, and Warner again had to come off his line to prevent the ball finding the net. The pressure from the away side brought about a double City change with 16 minutes to go as Kevin Kilbane and Kamel Ghilas replaced Cairney and Atkinson. A minute later, City went 3-1 up. Nathan Doyle's shot was blocked, but the ball dropped kindly for Geovanni who volleyed home into the bottom corner from the edge of the area. Geovanni wasn't far away from finding the net again in the 81st minute with a swerving, dipping free kick that just went over the bar. Four minutes of added time saw Southend substitute Lee Sawyer booked for a foul on Featherstone and a Moussa shot saved by Warner. Tigers: Tony Warner, Nathan Doyle, Liam Cooper, Steven Mouyokolo, Peter Halmosi, Nicky Featherstone, Tom Cairney (Kilbane 74), Nick Barmby (Geovanni 60), Will Atkinson (Ghilas 74), Craig Fagan, Jozy Altidore. Subs: Matt Duke, Kamil Zayatte, Bernard Mendy, Kevin Kilbane, Geovanni, Kamel Ghilas, Daniel Cousin. Southend: Steve Mildenhall, Simon Francis, Jean Francois Christophe (Sawyer 78), Matt Heath, Adam Barrett, Anthony Grant (Betsy 69), Alan McCormack, Lee Barnard (Walker 83), Alex Revell, Franck Moussa, Jean Yves M'Voto. Subs: Ian Joyce, James Walker, Damien Scannell, Osei Sankofa, Dougie Freedman, Kevin Betsy, Lee Sawyer. Referee: Mr N. Swarbrick. Attendance: 7,994.

Source: Daily_Mail