Cardiff City suffer demoralising defeat against Hull City

Hull City have thrashed Cardiff City with an impressive away performance to push Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men closer to the bottom of the Premier League.

Cardiff started well, with Wilfried Zaha demonstrating the type of form that persuaded Manchester United to sign him.

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The former Crystal Palace man had an effort saved by Allan McGregor, but then showed great skill to wriggle free of two tackles. However, Hull's goalkeeper saved again.

Hull then exposed the fragility of the Cardiff defence with the opening goal. Jake Livermore gave the ball to Tom Huddlestone, who, with the aid of a deflection, hammered in a shot.

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McGregor again showed good reflexes to keep out Fraizer Campbell's header, before Alex Bruce and Curtis Davies made last-ditch tackles to deny Cardiff a shot at goal.

Despite being under pressure for the majority of the first half, Hull punished Cardiff with a brilliant counter-attack. Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic exchanged passes, before the latter found the net with a right-footed shot.

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Cardiff's afternoon got even worse with just under an hour played. Long's initial cross was too deep, but Liam Rosenior chased it down. The full-back picked out an unmarked Jelavic, who thumped a header into the top right corner.

Incredibly, Hull weren't finished and soon made it four. A misunderstanding between Andrew Taylor and Craig Noone gifted possession to Ahmed Elmohamady, who pulled the ball back for Livermore. The midfielder then curled it into the bottom corner.

McGregor had to save after good play by Noone, but Hull almost made it five when Jelavic hit the side-netting with a powerful volley.