Dame N'Doye scored twice as Hull City ended a six-game winless streak by winning 2-0 away to Crystal Palace this afternoon.
Both sides cancelled each other out in a goalless first half that Hull dominated but failed to find the net, with N'Doye among the culprits for their profligacy.
However, the Senegalese atoned for his first-half miss by opening the scoring early in the second half, before making sure of the win with a composed finish late on.
Below, relive our live commentary of the clash at Selhurst Park.
Well hello and welcome to our live text commentary of Hull City's must-win clash away to Crystal Palace. I'm Shane, and I'll be bringing you all of the action from Selhust Park in what is arguably Hull's biggest game of the season. Why? Let's have a look, shall we?
Believe it or not my friends, but visiting Palace, who have been pretty decent since the turn of the year it has to be said, is probably Hull's second easiest game from the six that they have left, which should contextualise the kinda run-in that they have.
Yep, after this Steve Bruce - whose side sit outside the relegation zone on goal difference - can look forward to a clash with Liverpool at the KC Stadium during the week. That is followed by a visit of Arsenal, a VERY big game with Burnley, a trip to Spurs on the penultimate matchday and then they host Manchester United on the final day of the season.
See why this game is so important now? It's a ridiculously daunting end-of-season fixture list for poor Hull. Leicester, who sit behind them on goal difference in 18th, face fellow strugglers Burnley this afternoon, so points will be dropped and Hull simply have to take advantage by winning today. Dropped points and, well, it makes staying in the Premier League very, very hard.
We shall have a look at Palace a little later, because they've been nothing short of excellent since Alan Pardew took over at the start of the year, but first we'll have a look at some team news. Stay tuned folks.
PALACE XI: Speroni; Kelly, Dann, Delaney, Souare; Jedinak, McArthur; Zaha, Puncheon, Bolasie; Murray
HULL XI: Harper; Chester, Huddlestone, Dawson, Brady, McShane, Livermore, Aluko, Elmohamady, Quinn, N'Doye
PALACE SUBS: Hennessey, Hangeland, Ledley, Mutch, Lee, Sanogo, Gayle
HULL SUBS: McGregor, Rosenior, Figueora, Bruce, Hernandez, Sagbo, Ramirez
Okay then let's start with the hosts and I can confirm that Mr Pardew makes two changes from the 2-0 defeat to West Brom last week - and both come in defence. Martin Kelly and Pape Souare come in for Joel Ward and Joe Ledley at right-back and left-back respectively. With six in his last eight games, Glenn Murray continues to spearhead the attack.
On to Hull now and Bruce, who hasn't had to pick a first XI for two weeks due to Liverpool's involvement in the FA Cup last week, makes one change from the 2-0 defeat to Southampton a fortnight ago. Alex Bruce, who conceded a costly penalty at St Mary's, drops to the bench as Robbie Brady comes in.
It seems like Bruce is going for three centre-halves in Michael Dawson, James Chester and Paul McShane, with Brady and Ahmed Elmohamady operating in the half-back positions. Further forward you've got Sone Aluko and Dame N'Doye partnering one another in attack once more. The combination showed some promising signs against the Saints at times, so Bruce will hope that there's more improvement here.
Worryingly for Hull, there's nobody in that first XI who you trust to come up with the goals needed today, is there? Let's have a look a closer look at their goalscoring woes.
Dame N'Doye enjoyed a good start to life in England following his January arrival, netting three times early on, but he only has one in his last five now. Similarly, club-record signing Abel Hernandez, who cost a cool £10m, also only has one goal in his last 17. This is where their problems have stemmed from this season, and Aluko, who has scored one Premier League goal since September 2013, is unlikely to do much, is he?
What's the difference between Hull and those exploding implants that were going around a few years ago? Hull have no danger up front. I tried that joke out on Jack Grealish and Raheem Sterling recently and neither could stop laughing.
On a lighter note, who can look Crystal Palace look to for a bit of inspiration then? They've got quite a few options fortunately. We can't look further than resurgent striker Murray, who has netted six times in his last eight games as Palace have FINALLY found somebody to lead their forward line. Marouane Chamakh, Yaya Sanogo and Fraizer Campbell have all tried, but it's Murray's spot now.
Of course, there's also in-form Yannick Bolasie, who netted a brilliant hat-trick in the 4-1 win away to Sunderland the other week. Pardew slapped a £40m pricetag on him earlier in the week, so let's see if he does the business here again.
What a super, super job Pardew has done at Selhurst Park in the four-and-a-half months that he's been there. He inherited a team 18th in the Premier League back in January thanks to Neil Warnock, but now they sit 11th and 14 points clear of danger. They've also defeated the likes of Spurs and Manchester City in what has proven a brilliant 2015 for them. Fair play to Pardew.
This game means nothing to them, nor do the four that will follow, but Palace fans won't care that there's little to play for. It's been a season rife with instability for them, having seen manager Tony Pulis quit just two days before the season kicked off, with Warnock failing to reignite the spark. It's all about next season for Palace.
PREDICTION! Despite Palace having nothing to play for, I just don't see Hull beating them this afternoon. There's major problems in attack for the Tigers and the Eagles should pick up another another win here this afternoon. Facing relegation candidates is always a danger at this time of the season, but Hull don't have the personnel to pull these kinda wins out of the bag. 10 minutes until show time.
DID YOU KNOW? Right so let's look at a few pre-game stats to whet the appetite, and did you know that Hull's last win over Palace at Selhurst Park came way back in 1985? They've drawn five and lost six of the 11 that followed. There's a 30-year hoodoo to end for Hull here, my friends.
Right, the players are out on the field folks and kickoff is just minutes away now. The silver-headed Pardew now emerges from a tunnel and shakes hands with Steve Bruce. Big, big game for Hull this.
KICKOFF: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're off at Selhurst Park. Hull, outside the danger zone on goal difference, need a win here as some big, big, big, BIG games lie on the horizon. Let's go.
Palace fans responding to manager Pardew's recommendation that they sing louder during the week as the home support produces a cracking atmosphere here in these early stages.
Good defending by James Chester there to thwart Bolasie, who caught Huddlestone in possession but the Hull midfielder had his blushes spared. He had a rotten game at St Mary's two weeks ago Huddlestone, so he'll want to improve on that this afternoon.
CHANCE! Oh lord, it should be 1-0 to Palace folks as Glenn Murray misses a golden opportunity from point-blank range! Hull fail to clear a routine a free kick into the box when Chester and Dawson get in each other's way, and Murray looks set to capitalise on the error but his close-range shot is saved by Steve Harper. Bad miss.
Better from Hull in recent minutes as they win a corner, which is ultimately headed well over by Chester. Still, it's better from the visitors despite a rocky start.
CHANCE! Oh my word this might be a worse miss than Murray's earlier, and it comes for Hull as Robbie Brady whips a brilliant ball into the box but N'Doye, three yards from goal, fails to even get his tap-in on target. Amazing.
Incidentally, Hull only have two away goals under their belt in 2015. It's not great, is it? Maybe that's reflected in the finishing after N'Doye's shocking effort.
It's all Hull in the last few minutes but Brady's brilliant deliveries are going to waste here. The Irishman has whipped in another fantastic cross from a corner there but it comes to nothing.
SAVE! We've seen our first save of the afternoon, and it's a good one as Julian Speroni tips Huddlestone's curling effort past the post to concede a corner. This is a good spell from Hull.
What a ball this is from Stephen Quinn, who delivers a ridiculously good left-footed cross, but N'Doye, in his attempts to reach it, fouled Souare in the build-up. Hull had a spell like this against Southampton and it came to nothing. It's imperative that they find the net here.
Despite their dominance, Hull do look a little shaky at the back, which underlines the importance of grabbing the first goal.
PENALTY APPEAL: Early appeal for Mark Clattenburg to contend with here as Sone Aluko latches on to Huddlestone's through ball before being clattered by Speroni, but no penalty! It's not as easy a decision as I perhaps may have sounded, but still deserved consideration.
Another corner for Hull and, if Brady's delivery so far is anything to go by, then this will cause further panic in Palace's area, but it comes to nothing! There you go.
Worrying signs for Hull now as Robbie Brady goes down injured. He's been City's primary source of creativity so far with a ridiculous amount of fine crosses into the box, but it looks like he might be okay. He's making us Irish proud this afternoon. Or is he really Irish, or one of those whose great, great, great, great, great grandmother was Irish, making him eligible to represent the national team?
Ruddy hell there's only nine minutes left in this half. It's flown by! It's been a very decent first 36 minutes though, it has to be said, so we cannot complain too much.
Palace execute a training ground routine, as Jedinak floats a cross into the box for Dann at the far post, whose header is sent back into the area but Hull clear. The hosts have been better in recent minutes.
© Getty Images
Here's the moment N'Doye missed that chance early on. Was it worse than Murray's earlier miss? Have a look on MOTD later.
CHANCE! What exactly is Livermore up to here? Speroni was about a mile off his line, and Livermore, standing at the edge of the box, is caught between a regular shot and a dink and ends up executing a fusion of both and Speroni easily makes the save. Will they regret these chances?
TWO MINUTES ADDED ON:
HALFTIME: PALACE 0-0 HULL
So, a pretty good first half by all account for Hull, who somehow haven't scored. They've had the chances through N'Doye and Livermore, but both spurned their opportunities, while Palace had a very decent chance early on through Murray.
Apologies for a few technical difficulties there folks - my dog knocked the modem off the cabinet - but we're back and, yeah, a good half from Hull but they'll be worried that their first-half profligacy could come back to haunt them.
Steve Bruce has just had an awkward moment there, walking past a few Crystal Palace fans and he decided to give a nod of acknowledgement as if to say "I used to manage here you know". Not sure the fans in question cared much.
KICKOFF: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back underway here, folks. Palace, having been dominated in the first half, get us back underway. Lets go.
CHANCE! Hull win their seventh corner of the game after Speroni's finger-tips kept out Dame N'Doye's back-post header. It's important that Hull don't relent in their quest for an opener.
Yannick Bolasie and Wilfried Zaha look like they'd rather be on holidays - well, so would all the players I assume, but they're the only two showing their apathy. They've looked a little sluggish and jaded in this first 50 minutes.
GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!! Crystal Palace 0-1 Hull (N'Doye)
Finally, we've seen the breakthrough and we can't say they don't deserve it, can we? N'Doye is the goalscorer, but Brady is the architect. Brady latches on to Aluko's lofted ball down that left flank. He shrugs off a challenge from Kelly before squaring to N'Doye, who simply can't miss as he taps into an empty net. 1-0 and they've fully deserved it.
Finally, we've seen the breakthrough and we can't say they don't deserve it, can we? N'Doye is the goalscorer, but Brady is the architect. Brady latches on to Aluko's lofted ball down that left flank. He shrugs off a challenge from Kelly before squaring to N'Doye, who simply can't miss as he taps into an empty net. 1-0 and they've fully deserved it.
CLOSE! Oh my word it's so, so close to a second for Hull and N'Doye, as the Senegalese collects Huddlestone's through ball before firing narrowly wide of Speroni's far post. This is great stuff from Hull.
SUB: Palace make their first sub now as Murray makes way for Arsenal loanee Yaya Sanogo. Is he the man to inspire Palace? I'm an Arsenal fan and no, he's probably not, but let's see.
Hull, it must be said, have been really, really good in this first hour or so and a one-goal lead is the bare minimum that they deserve. But they have looked shaky at the back, so let's see if they can keep a clean sheet.
SUB: Lee Chung-Yong earns his Crystal Palace debut as the South Korean replaces Mile Jedinak. That signals a change in shape for Palace. He's a decent player this fella, but it's his first game back following a foot injury.
PENALTY APPEALS: Has Clattenburg forgotten his whistle in this second half or something? Two good penalty appeals, one for either side, are both denied, with Zaha and Aluko the aggrieved parties.
We're into the final 20 minutes now and Hull have a lot of work to do before they can celebrate, with Palace firmly in control here in recent minutes. Hull look dangerous on the break, but Palace could easily score here folks. It's far from over.
SUBS: Palace are gone a bit gung-ho now as Dwight Gayle, their top goalscorer this season, replaces James McArthur, while Gaston Ramirez comes on for Quinn in Hull's first sub.
14 minutes left until the end then and, dare I say, Hull look relatively comfortable. Palace have a host of attacking quality on the field, but it remains to be seen if it's going to yield a reward.
CLOSE! Just as I say that, Jason Puncheon thrashes a left-footed shot just wide of the mark. That's about as close as the hosts have come in this second half init?
10 minutes left now and what a massive 10 minutes it is for Hull. It's so important they hang on for all three points here.
DISALLOWED GOAL: Yaya Sanogo thinks he has equalised after nodding back Harper into the bottom corner, but it's chalked off for a foul on Paul McShane. Good decision.
SUB: Hull shore things up now a little as Alex Bruce and Liam Rosenior come on for the final four minutes or so. Bruce is happy with a 1-0 win.
OFF THE BAR! Take a bow Liam Rosenior, whose volley from outside the area cannons off the crossbar! What fantastic technique to hit a dropping ball like that. Different class.
CHANCE! Palace's midfield appears to have evaporated and Hull look set to capitalise on it when N'Doye, with all the space in the world, fires at goal but his effort is palmed away by Speroni.
FOUR MINUTES ADDED ON:
GOAL!!!!!!!!!!! Crystal Palace 0-2 Hull (N'Doye)
It's a superb finish from N'Doye and that's that! Well done Hull.
FULL TIME: Crystal Palace 0-2 Hull City
That's it and what a huge win it is for Hull, who win 2-0 to move above the 30-point mark! Second-half goals from Dame N'Doye did the damage in a deserved win for the visitors, who move a point clear of danger in 16th!
Anyways, that's all from us. Enjoy your weekends and we'll catch you again!
Written by
Shane Callaghan
Shane Callaghan
