Hull 1 - 0 Sheff WedMohamed Diamé guides Hull to Premier League past Sheffield Wednesday
Home team scorers
Mohamed Diame 72
A golden strike for a team in gold. Mohamed Diamé sent Hull City back to the Premier League with a goal worth millions, deep into this pulsating play-off final that ended with a deserved winner and the swaths of blue and white from south Yorkshire mulling what might have been.
Sheffield Wednesday came here in numbers and did their club proud but, in the end, Keiren Westwood’s admirable resistance was not enough. The Wednesday goalkeeper was finally beaten in the 72nd minute of this £170m match, and if ever there was a goal worthy of the riches that will befall Hull then this was one.
Diamé’s wonderful strike into the top corner came after concerted pressure throughout this dramatic denouement to the Championship season. In truth Wednesday barely tested Eldin Jakupovic in the Hull goal and, despite dreams of a first top-flight return in 16 years, they were undone by a superior side that had an edge in quality.
Steve Bruce said beforehand that he would be thinking of the Hull owner, Assem Allam, if he managed to steer his side back to the Premier League at the first time of asking. Allam is seriously ill in hospital and convinced Bruce to remain at the club after relegation last season, a decision that has paid out handsomely.
Hull did finish nine points above Wednesday in the Championship table and, for all the effort that Carlos Carvahal’s side exuded, they were second best here. Credit must go to the Owls supporters, who made this an afternoon to remember and continued singing after the final whistle even if the result left many crestfallen.
It was the blue and white shirts that dominated the Wembley Way panoramic before kick-off, with Wednesday having sold 39,000 tickets for their biggest match in many a year. There were chunks of empty seats in the Hull end but the noise inside the national stadium was tumultuous, an indication of the stakes at hand.
For both these sides, this was the culmination of an arduous season. The resulting tension perhaps accounted for a relatively mild pace in the opening 20 minutes, with possession the priority rather than an immediate strike at the opposition.
However, by the end of the first half it was clear which team was fortunate not to be behind. Despite a slow start, Wednesday finished the opening period hanging on and would have been cut adrift were it not for their goalkeeper Westwood.
Fernando Forestieri began brightly and was cynically scythed down by Michael Dawson in the 10th minute after a smart touch and turn by the Italian. But while Forestieri tested Eldin Jakupovic – still deputising in the Hull goal for the injured Alan McGregor – from the resulting free-kick, it was Westwood’s goal that came under severe fire.
Hull won their first corner in the 29th minute and Robert Snodgrass’s outswinger was met by Abel Hernández’s powerful header. The ball arced towards the bottom corner of Westwood’s goal but Kieran Lee was there on the line, chesting down and desperately clearing in unorthodox fashion.
Ahmed Elmohamady was then almost played in over the top but could not quite carry a long, high ball in his stride, before Westwood came to the fore.
Tom Lees missed an interception on Mohamed Diamé’s fizzing through ball to Hernández, who bore down on Westwood and poked an effort towards goal only to be brilliantly denied by a fine reflex tip over the crossbar.
If that was good, Wednesday then rode their luck before half-time was signalled. Diamé was given licence to drive into the penalty area down the left and, although the Senegalese appeared to have little room with which to work, he shifted the ball out of his feet and unleashed a powerful left-footed shot that had Westwood’s right-hand post rattling.
The goalkeeper stood helpless as the ball rebounded off the woodwork, and he was scrambling towards the opposite post soon afterwards as Moses Odubajo let fly from 25 yards only to see his effort soar wide.
Wednesday began the second half with renewed intent but again Westwood was required to come to his team’s aid. Snodgrass, so dangerous with his left-footed delivery, lifted a deep cross over the waiting bodies in the opposition penalty area and Dawson – still up from a recent corner – found the ball at his feet at the far post. He fired in low but the goalkeeper was there once more.
In the 58th minute, Hull had another fine chance to go ahead. Bruce’s side broke from a poor Wednesday free-kick and Odubajo was flying down the right. The full-back swung across an accurate low ball and there was Andy Robertson in an advanced position, but the defender’s first-time finish flew high over the bar.
Soon, however, Hull were in front. It was always going to take something special to beat Westwood in this form and so it proved. Snodgrass received the ball in the 72nd minute and laid it off for Diamé, who touched it inside and curled a beautiful effort with his right-foot into the top corner. Westwood got the faintest of touches but the strike was unstoppable.
It stunned Wednesday and there was no real fightback. Hull’s centre-half pairing of Dawson and Curtis Davies soaked up the opposition attacks and, although there was a legitimate late shout for handball against Dawson, Wednesday’s dreams turned to tears.
Guardian
