Hull City travelled to Cardiff City this afternoon having previously won only two Premier League games on their travels this season.
However, they produced the perfect away display to thrash the Bluebirds 4-0, easing their relegation concerns while putting their 19th-place opponents into deeper peril.
It was the hosts who did the early pressing but Hull were lethal on the counter and Tom Huddlestone's deflected strike gave them an 18th-minute lead which was increased by Nikica Jelavic before the interval.
The Croatian striker added to his excellent one-touch finish with a fine header on 57 minutes, while Jake Livermore completed the scoring 10 minutes later with a classy strike into the bottom corner.
Below, you can read how the action unfolded in Wales, courtesy of Sports Mole's live text coverage.
Afternoon, all. Two Manchester United alumni go head-to-head at the Cardiff City Stadium today as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Bluebirds host Steve Bruce's Hull City. Neither will have been involved in a relegation scrap like this one during their trophy-happy Red Devils days mind you.
Cardiff are right in the thick of it, propped up at the bottom of the table only by serial manager swappers Fulham. They are on 22 points, five behind 13th-place Hull who are also in vital need of wins.
This is one of five 3.00pm Premier League kickoffs being brought to you live by Sports Mole this afternoon. Title-chasing Arsenal and Manchester City host Sunderland and Stoke City respectively, while West Bromwich Albion face Fulham and Southampton visit West Ham United.
Team news from the Cardiff City Stadium coming your way shortly...
CARDIFF: Marshall; Taylor, Caulker, Cala, Fabio; Zaha, Cowie, Eikrem, Noone; Campbell, Jones
SUBS: Lewis; Turner, Whittingham, Gunnarsson, Daehli, Berget, John
HULL: McGregor; Rosenior, Bruce, Davies, Figueroa; Meyler, Huddlestone, Livermore, Elmohamady; Jelavic, Long
SUBS: Harper, Chester, Koren, Boyd, Sagbo, Aluko, Quinn
After ringing the changes for the FA Cup draw with Brighton on Monday, Tigers boss Bruce has reverted to the majority of the side that lost to Southampton in the Premier League a fortnight ago.
He is forced into making one alteration. Paul McShane suffered a season-ending injury against the Saints, and the returning Liam Rosenior is the man recalled to take his place in defence. Another change sees Allan McGregor return in goal following a ban as veteran keeper Steve Harper makes way.
January recruits Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic will continue their strike partnership, which has yielded three goals in three starts. Sone Aluko is fit again but only named among the substitutes.
Aluko, Abdoulaye Faye, Robert Koren, Stephen Quinn and Yannick Sagbo, who scored the equalising goal that earned Hull a reluctant replay, all drop out of the side that played the Seagulls.
Solskjaer is still very much looking for a winning formula. Again he shuffles the pack by making four changes as Fabio da Silva, Craig Noone, Don Cowie and Kenwyne Jones come into the starting XI.
Mark Hudson has been ruled out until May and therefore Cala makes his first Premier League appearances for Cardiff after making his club bow in the FA Cup loss to Wigan Athletic.
The Spaniard is joined in the home back four by Andrew Taylor, who makes his first top-flight start since Boxing Day after recovering from a foot problem. Fabio's selection on the opposite side of the defence is a vote of confidence in the former United man following a shaky start to his Cardiff career.
Kevin Theophile-Catherine and Declan John miss out in the full-back positions, while hometown boy Craig Bellamy is unavailable as he completes his three-match suspension.
Gary Medel faces a few weeks on the sidelines because of a thigh injury and therefore there is also a first Premier League start for another winter window arrival, Magnus Wolff Eikrem, in midfield.
Solskjaer names two in attack, with Kenwyne Jones paired alongside former Hull City loanee Frazier Campbell. Noone's recall is at the expense of the injured Jordan Mutch.
WORLD CUP WATCH: Wilfried Zaha has been given a platform by Cardiff for a late charge into England's squad, with Three Lions boss Roy Hodgson admitting that he is keeping an eye on the Manchester United loanee. His teammate Steven Caulker and Tom Huddlestone are outside bets for the squad and will be looking to impress.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: Should Cardiff win today then victories for the respective sides and draws will be level at 20 apiece throughout these two team's league history. The last two meetings have been draws, including a point which secured Hull promotion on the final day of the Championship season last May.
Around 10 minutes until kickoff now here in Wales. Will Cardiff be inspired by the success of the national rugby team's emphatic Six Nations triumph against France in the same city last night?
Of course, Cardiff now wear the same red jerseys sported by the Red Dragons as part of the marketing changes put in place by their Malaysian owner and benefactor Vincent Tan.
Hull owner Assem Allam is vowing to push the club in a similarly corporate direction, starting with the rebranding of the club to Hull Tigers. This motion has been fiercely opposed by their supporters, who may well see what has happened to today's opponents and pray that they don't follow suit!
Where these two sides differ though is certainly in their approach to the January transfer window. Hull opted to spend £14m on two proven strikers, while Cardiff brought in mainly young players in their quantity over quality approach. Only time will tell which method proves the most fruitful.
We are underway at the Cardiff City Stadium...
PREDICTION: Cardiff have really been struggling of late and Hull now have a reliable source of goals in their team. I fancy them to narrowly nick this match, probably 2-1.
Noone breaks down the right flank before cutting inside and laying the ball into the feet of Zaha on the edge of the area. He shifts and shoots but it is comfortably held by McGregor.
Campbell and Davis leave nothing behind as they meet at full force. The Cardiff man is up quickly though and he delivers a decent cross which Bruce clears away with his head.
CHANCE! Zaha takes up another central position, but three Hull bodies surround the forward, who displays some brilliant footwork to wriggle free of two tackles. From 10 yards out he powers a shot at McGregor, who palms upwards and catches at the second attempt. Great play from Zaha.
SAVE! Cardiff threaten again as Jones is released through the middle. He shoves off the weak challenge of Bruce before firing a low shot which McGregor saves with his legs. Twice already has the Scot been called upon to keep Hull on level terms, but bright stuff from Cardiff of late.
GOAL! CARDIFF 0-1 HULL (TOM HUDDLESTONE)
McGregor's saves appear even more important now as Hull take the lead through a Tom Huddlestone piledriver! Livermore lays the ball back to the ex-Spurs man, who allows the ball to roll across him before thumping it, via a deflection off Andrew Taylor, beyond Marshall into the bottom corner!
Marshall appears sickened as without the aid of the deflection, he probably had that covered. The Scot had only moments earlier produced heroics to keep out Jelavic from 10 yards after the Croatian had collected a return pass from Long and turned inside Cala. However, Livermore recycled play quickly and Huddlestone spared Jelavic's blushes with his second goal of the season.
CHANCE! Eikrem, whose sloppy pass conceded Cardiff possession in the buildup to Hull's goal, delivers a corner which Campbell leans back and heads into the gloves of McGregor. He was in a good position there the former Tigers star, but could not generate much power on the effort.
Jelavic sprints into the Cardiff third as he and Long break, but Eikrem makes amends for what proved to be a costly mistakes moments earlier by pinching the ball off him with a precise slide tackle.
BLOCKS! Last-ditch defending from Hull as firstly Bruce and then Davies make superb blocks! After Taylor does excellently to recycle play, Eikrem cleverly weaves his way through two visiting players to smash left-footed, only for Bruce to dive in front of it. The Norwegian then tries to provide Jones with a simple tap in from inside the six-yard box, but Davies stretches to make the intervention.
Cardiff have responded well to going behind and based on the balance of play they certainly don't deserve to be. Hull head away two crosses before a third is delivered by Noone by the right flank. Campbell gets in between Figueroa and Bruce only to head powerfully wide of the goal.
Huddlestone has the ball pinched off his toes by Zaha and Cardiff eventually spread the ball wide to Noone. He cuts back onto his left foot to deliver a deep cross which Rosenior climbs to nod clear.
BOOKING: Howard Webb is our referee today and some of his recent decisions have been surrounded by controversy. This one to caution Zaha after he tugged back Elmohamady in retaliation to Davies crashing into him is not as high profile but still debatable as the Cardiff man's reaction shows.
CHANCE! The ball falls to Campbell in the box and he turns to lay back to Eikrem. There is a bit too much pace on the pass and the midfielder is forced to toe poke towards goal. His prod bounces off Figueroa and towards the head of Jones, who can only angle the ball wide of the post from six yards.
GOAL! CARDIFF 0-2 HULL (NIKICA JELAVIC)
It has been all Cardiff, but Hull sucker-punch the hosts with a classic counter-attack goal. Long makes an intelligent run into the left channel which Jelavic finds with a reverse pass. The Croatian darts towards the edge of the box and his strike partner picks him out as Jelavic superbly guides home side footed from 18 yards out. Great set up, great finish, great combination play from Hull's forwards.
The physio is called on to attend to Noone after he collided with Davies in the Hull area. That has been where much of the goalmouth action has taken place and yet Cardiff are two down.
Noone is okay to continue as we enter THREE minutes of first-half stoppage time...
PENALTY APPEAL! Cardiff shout hopefully for a penalty after Jelavic clumsily clattered into Jones. Fabio's stood-up cross had been controlled by the ex-Sunderland man on his head and it was taking an age to drop for him when Hull's goalscorer leapt on top of him and brought him to the ground. They have a reasonable claim too but are quite clearly not getting the breaks at the minute.
HALF-TIME: CARDIFF 0-2 HULL
Cardiff might be wondering quite how they are two-nil down, so I am going to tell them. Hull have produced the blueprint away display thus far, leaving men behind the ball and breaking with pace.
Both of their goals came following swift breaks. After Jelavic somehow failed to capitalise on an Eikrem error, Huddlestone powered a deflected shot beyond Marshall into the bottom corner. Jelavic showed his true colours in front of goal to double Hull's lead after great link-up play with Long.
It was Cardiff, though, who were doing most of the attacking in between Hull's two strikes. Zaha twice forced McGregor into good saves while Campbell miscued a couple of headed opportunities.
Tigers centre-backs Bruce and Davies were each called upon to to deny Eikrem and Jones respectively with last-ditch blocks which epitomise their defensive efforts so far.
Cardiff get us back underway in Wales and Solsjkaer has made a half-time change...
SUBSTITUTION: Zaha has been hauled off after 45 minutes as Solskjaer turns to a Norwegian from his Molde days, Mats Moller Daehli. He will play behind Jones and Campbell.
MISS! Elmohamady creates some room for a cross which is just over Jelavic but lands at the feet of Rosenior at the far post. His prod back into the danger area falls to Jelavic, who shoots over the crossbar on the turn from eight yards out. That was a great chance to kill off Cardiff.
Cardiff rally again though and after a couple of attacks threaten to open up Hull, a cross from Taylor does. Jones' knockdown drops near Campbell and he is preparing to turn the ball towards goal when Huddlestone makes a perfectly-timed tackle from behind to limit the hosts to a corner.
Hull are a man down defending this corner as Huddlestone receives treatment on the sidelines. Eikrem's delivery is a good one but Cala heads high over the bar as another half chance goes begging.
Eikrem is involved in a lot of what Cardiff do going forward and here he fizzes in a low cross which Figueroa fails to deal with at the near post, but Jones can only flick harmlessly wide.
GOAL! CARDIFF 0-3 HULL (NIKICA JELAVIC)
This is turning out to be a miserable afternoon for Cardiff, but a very good one for Nikica Jelavic! Long's initial cross is too deep but Rosenior chases it down. The same cannot be said about Fabio, who allows the Hull full-back too much room to cross towards an unmarked Jelavic, who gives Marshall no chance with by angling a header into the top right corner. Poor defending from the visitors.
This could be a long remaining 30 minutes for Cardiff now, unless they pull one back immediately. Noone tries to instigate a remarkable comeback with a shot from distance which is blocked.
SUBSTITUTION: The luxury of a three-goal cushion allows Bruce to rest Huddlestone, who picked up an injury earlier in the half. George Boyd, Hull's most-used substitute, is on in his place.
Cala rises to head clear a corner and again Rosenior has picked up a good position on the edge of the box. He attempts a looping half volley which drops the wrong side of Marshall's post.
GOAL! CARDIFF 0-4 HULL (JAKE LIVERMORE)
Hull are absolutely flying now as Livermore adds a fourth! This passage of play sums up the entire game, as a misunderstanding between Taylor and Noone sees Cardiff concede possession. Elmohamady is so quick to collect the loose ball and charge down the right flank. He pulls back to Livermore, who shows great technique to wrap his foot around the ball and into the bottom corner. Another classy finish from a Tigers player. This is going horribly wrong for Cardiff, but Hull are now in Fulham territory.
Jones and Campbell work a two-on-one situation against Bruce as the latter is released into the area. He could have taken it first time but instead tries to work it onto his left foot. Bruce stands tall and makes a block before Davies comes to help out and clears the ball for a corner.
SUBSTITUTION: Again Bruce takes precautionary action as he brings off his son Alex, who has been in the wars this afternoon. James Chester, who has not played in over a month because of a hamstring injury, replaces him for the final 20 minutes.
CLOSE! Cala was signed as a defender but today he has proved more useful in the Hull box than his own. The second ball hang in the air for some time and he tries to flick it with the back of his head inside the post and although he gets above Davies, his clever effort drifts wide.
SAVE! McGregor is stretched for the first time in this second period following lovely play from Noone. He cleverly turns away from Figueroa and then sidesteps Livermore before unleashing a forceful 22-yard left-footed shot which McGregor gets down very well to palm away.
SUBSTITUTIONS: Andrew Taylor has only recently returned from a foot problem and Solskjaer does not want to push him now that the game is way beyond them. Declan John will get a brief cameo, while Shane Long, excellent again for Hull, leaves the pitch at the expense of Stephen Quinn.
Noone has come alive, but far too late for the Bluebirds. He gets by Rosenior on the right wing and crosses towards Campbell, but Chester is on hand to beat him to the header.
SUBSTITUTION: Solskjaer makes his final change as he hands out a third Premier League debut of the day. Jo Inge Berget allows a wounded Campbell an escape from the wreckage.
CLOSE! Jelavic makes a clever dart into the left channel and he leaves Cala for dead. There is not much support for the striker but he is seeking his hat-trick anyway. His outside-of-the-foot half volley from a tight angle is very ambitious, but worries Marshall as it brushes the side netting.
BOOKING: Jelavic feels that Cala should have been punished for leaving his foot in, but Webb disagrees. He does show a card moments later, though, following Boyd's late tackle on Noone.
John dances into the box and shows some nice balance to wriggle free of Meyler. His cross is sliced into the side netting, but what is notable is how many Hull bodies were back in position to defend. Even had the delivery been accurate, one of eight Tigers men would have likely cleared the danger.
BLOCK! Nice interplay between Jones and Berget, who attempts to bend a shot into the bottom corner, only for Davies to make a brave block. Hull have certainly maintained their standards.
Cardiff only have THREE more minutes of this to endure as we enter second-half stoppage time...
FULL-TIME: CARDIFF 0-4 HULL
What an afternoon for Hull, who move six points away from the bottom three and drop one of their relegation rivals deeper into trouble with an emphatic 4-0 victory in Wales.
Nikica 'one-touch' Jelavic showed glimpses of his best form with two first-time finishes, while Tom Huddlestone and Jake Livermore were also on the scoresheet in a perfect Tigers away display.
It is only Hull's third Premier League victory on the road this season and it lifts them to 11th in the table. Cardiff remain 19th and are in a mess. They were awful defensively today.
That's it from me. Thanks for joining Sports Mole this afternoon. Until next time...
Written by
Joe Fish
Joe Fish
