Hull City 0-1 Leicester CityRiyad Mahrez 32
For the majority of this season Nigel Pearson has watched Leicester lose in spirited fashion, deserving more but often emerging with nothing. This win, therefore, will have pleased him no end, prevailing after weathering a late Hull storm, producing a gritty performance in the face of late pressure to provide a first win in 14 following Riyad Mahrez’s superb first-half strike.
All the more sweet for Pearson given that it was against his former club, returning to the KC Stadium and clawing the Tigers deeper into the relegation scrap. Steve Bruce’s side now sit 17th in the Premier League table after this defeat, failing to break down Leicester with both sides reduced to 10 men in the closing stages following red cards to Paul Konchesky and Stephen Quinn.
Leicester remain bottom but the significance of this victory cannot be underestimated. Pearson’s side had not won since beating Manchester United in September, enduring a terrible run since then that has provided 11 defeats. How they needed a piece of quality here and it was Mahrez who delivered, the Algerian scoring shortly after the half hour.
Bruce had described this game as “bigger than the FA Cup final” but his side failed to stir themselves sufficiently during an insipid first-half display that only sparked to life once Mahrez struck to break the deadlock.
Pearson made two changes from the defeat to Tottenham – Esteban Cambiasso and Matty James starting in midfield – and Ben Hamer had to be alert during a first half in which Hull tested the goalkeeper from range. Sone Aluko’s curled effort was comfortably saved by Hamer in the sixth minute while strikes from Robbie Brady and Gaston Ramirez were also claimed with relative ease.
Hull may have held the upper hand, but they were woefully short of ideas in the final third. The sucker-punch came in the 32nd minute when Mahrez retrieved the ball wide right from David Nugent, cutting inside and finishing beautifully into the bottom corner with his left foot from 25 yards. Allan McGregor had barely touched the ball until then, but the precise finish fizzed past his clawing right hand.
It set up a frantic end to the half, with the home crowd becoming increasingly frustrated with Hull’s lack of invention. That said, they had a glorious opportunity to equalise in the closing stages, Ahmed Elmohamady guilty of an awful miss at the far post following a fine cross from Stephen Quinn: the Egyptian’s first-time effort was mis-timed and went over the bar.
Bruce responded at half-time by bringing on Nikica Jelavic for Ramirez but Hull’s malaise continued. They pressed well in midfield but Jelavic was too often isolated. Chris Wood replaced Leonardo Ulloa for the Foxes and almost made an immediate impact, but after retrieving a through ball the striker was dispossessed at the last by Curtis Davies.
As the floodlights flickered around the KC Stadium, Hull’s hopes faded. They did, though, come mightily close to an equaliser late on but Jake Livermore’s shot from inside the area rebounded off the post, with Jelavic’s header from a resulting cross flying over.
They then cranked up the pressure even more, the substitute Abel Hernández rattling the post with a header and Davies’s shot cleared off the line in the aftermath by Marcin Wasilewski, amid unsuccessful appeals for handball.
Hernández blazed over in the dying seconds from close range after Paul Konchesky had been sent off for two bookings, before Quinn followed him down the tunnel for a handball when he was the last man.
