Hull 3-3 C PalaceHome team scorersRobert Snodgrass 27 Pen
Adama Diomande 72
Jake Livermore 78
Away team scorersChristian Benteke 52 Pen
Wilfried Zaha 70
Fraizer Campbell 89
Alan Pardew will have to wait and see if Wilfried Zaha’s exhilarating attacking improvisation is sufficient to keep him in a job at Crystal Palace after his side once again exposed extreme defensive vulnerability.
With Tom Huddlestone back to something approaching his imperious best, Mike Phelan’s team would have won this had Fraizer Campbell not spared Palace’s blushes courtesy of an 89th-minute equaliser as Pardew made his first return to Hull City’s home since he infamously head-butted David Meyler here in March 2014.
Re-united, he and Meyler, a home substitute, maintained a safe distance but their interaction proved just about the only restrained thing about a thrilling afternoon spiced by stellar goals and kamikaze defending.
It left Hull second bottom of the Premier League, three points behind Palace, but their wonderfully spirited performance at least gave a typically sparse East Yorkshire crowd something to cheer.
Phelan – whose early season bonhomie seems to have been replaced by an increasingly furrowed brow – had indulged in a pre-match moan about the “negative undercurrents” surrounding Hull which he evidently fears will turn into a rip-tide, sucking his side inexorably towards Championship waters.
Perhaps tacitly acknowledging that this “negativity” is not confined to the stands and boardroom but stems partly from the tactics board, Hull’s manager attempted to arrest a run of eight defeats in 10 Premier League games by implenting a more attacking mindset. This involved reverting to 3-5-2 and re-locating Robert Snodgrass from the right wing to a striking role alongside Adama Diomandé, but Phelan’s blueprint was very nearly ripped up in the opening minutes.
Palace threatened to assume an early lead when, honing in on goal from the right, Zaha sashayed his way beyond three markers before unleashing a low, angled shot, goalkeeper David Marshall did well to fingertip away for a corner.
Reprieved, Hull gradually settled into a reasonably convincing passing rhythm and Pardew looked incandescent when Jake Livemore’s through ball to Diomandé bisected Palace’s defence. On that occasion Wayne Hennessey proved too smart to permit himself to be chipped by the striker but, a few minutes later, he had no answer to Snodgrass’s impeccably executed left-foot penalty.
It was awarded after he took a tumble in the face of Scott Dann. Mike Jones, the referee, bought it but there had been no contact and even Snodgrass’s biggest fans would acknowledge he was lucky not to be booked for diving. Indeed considering the Scotland creator had just collected a rather soft yellow card for tugging at Christian Benteke’s shirt, Hull’s most gifted player was rather fortunate not to have been sent off.
With the hood of his club anorak now pulled up to offer protection from a driving rain shower, Pardew seemed a study in misery. He may retain the support of Steve Parish, his chairman but Josh Harris and David Blitzer, Palace’s two key American backers have injected £50m in the club and were unimpressed to hear the manager talk about “investors who don’t know a lot about football” following last week’s 3-0 win against Southampton.
That victory ended a run of six straight defeats and Pardew’s mission here was to provide further proof of revival. The necessary evidence appeared a little thin on the ground as Hull began the second half brightly but then divine retribution – or might it have been the referee’s guilty conscience – intervened and Snodgrass conceded a soft penalty for tripping Zaha. Up stepped Benteke, his nonchalant sidefoot sending Marshall the wrong way.
By now Pardew had switched to a back three but, with the recalled Huddlestone, back in influential central midfield mode for the home side, Palace continued to live dangerously yet soon had reason to be grateful to Zaha.
When a partially cleared corner fell to the winger around 30 yards out, Zaha delighted in changing pace, switching feet and bamboozling Huddlestone and Sam Clucas before lashing a superb right-foot shot beyond Marshall.
Pardew could afford a smile - but not for long. A sharp, clever turn on Diomandé’s part wrongfooted Damien Delaney and next the striker nutmegged Dann before dinking the ball past Hennessey to claim his first goal in 13 games.
Unrecognisable from the team that managed one shot on target as they lost at Middlesbrough 1-0 last Monday, Hull soon regained the lead when Livemore played a one-two with Snodgrass which concluded with the midfielder directing a superlative shot just inside a post. It was a fine goal partly created by awful defending from Dann and substitute Yohan Cabaye.
Next Clucas headed narrowly wide. It proved a costly miss as another Palace substitute, the former Hull loanee Campbell, equalised after heading home Zaha’s 89th-minute cross.
Guardian
