Delap breaks Terriers’ hearts with dramatic late winner

GET IN: Liam Delap celebrates his late match-winner against Huddersfield Town. Pictures courtesy of Hull City

Hull City 1 - 0 Huddersfield Town

Sky Bet Championship

MKM Stadium

Attendance: 20,630

By Sam Hawcroft, Hull City Correspondent

Huddersfield came to Hull and parked the bus – only for the Tigers to puncture its tyres in the 92nd minute.

It was, admittedly, a tactic that very nearly worked for the fourth-from-bottom side, who came for the point and hardly ventured into the opposition half for the whole 90 minutes. But after surviving wave after wave of attack and almost complete domination by the Tigers, they finally succumbed to Liam Delap’s 92nd-minute strike.

This Armistice Day match had been preceded by an impeccably observed minute’s silence to honour the fallen. There’s always the worry that this solemn ceremony will be ruined by either senseless clapping, chanting fans coming into the ground unaware of what’s going on, or, far worse, fans simply acting like boorish prats – as was witnessed before Friday night’s derby clash between Blackburn and Preston.

Everyone in the MKM Stadium today should be proud – this was how to do a Remembrance minute’s silence. Special mention, too, to the person playing the Last Post.

The gulf between City’s attacking intent and the Terriers’ lack of it was evident as early as the second minute, when the Tigers won their first corner. Liam Delap had a shot blocked a few minutes later, before forcing another corner.

In what would turn out to be a very rare sniff at goal for the Terriers, Kyle Hudlin shot straight at Ryan Allsop from about 18 yards in the 10th minute. For a time, matters were a little cagey, with both sides happy to camp in midfield. The sizable away crowd in the north-east corner began to chant, “We all hate Leeds.” On that we can all agree.

However, Jaden Philogene was a thorn in Town’s side almost from the off – as he tends to be for most opposition teams – and in the 17th minute he saw his cross charged down before having another go, fizzing a ball right across goal that unfortunately evaded everyone in a Tigers shirt.

Then there were loud appeals for handball in the North Stand as City pressed again. Ozan Tufan – on his 50th league appearance for the Tigers – had left his marker for dead before his shot was charged down.

In the 24th minute, Philogene forced another Tigers corner after outfoxing the defender, before under-pressure Terriers keeper Lee Nicholls spannered a goal kick out to the halfway line in a way that brought to mind Steve Wilson at Boothferry Park, for those of a certain age. The chant this prompted from the North Stand – “Duh-duh-duh-duh, effing useless” – is a rather more modern development.

In fairness to Nicholls, he was far from useless, for he would go on to deny the Tigers on quite a few occasions.

As the half-hour approached, the Tigers continued to press – but almost out of nowhere a quick break from Huddersfield, culminating in a long-range shot from Sorba Thomas that went a few inches wide of the near post, was a reminder that goals against the run of play have been very much a thing at home this season.

Philogene was in the mix again in the 31st minute, crossing to Lewie Coyle in the box, who just failed to get his head on it and fell to the floor claiming he’d been fouled. Less than a minute later, Philogene stung the hands of Nicholls with a powerful 20-yard shot from the left corner of the box. From the corner, there was more pressure from City before it fell to Jean Michael Seri, who unleashed a shot from 25 yards that went only just wide of the left post.

A couple of minutes later, Nicholls was forced to make another save, this time from Tufan in the bottom right-hand corner. The Terriers’ bus was under severe bombardment now, and the Tigers had more than 85 per cent of the first-half possession – but try as they might, they just could not make it count.

Twine was tripped just outside the area in the 38th minute and after a bit of pushing and shoving the free kick was taken. City had the ball in the net but the referee had long blown for Jacob Greaves’ foul on a Terriers defender.

Seconds after the restart, a free kick was awarded to City about 25 yards out after Michal Helik’s foul on Delap. It was lofted to Tufan who caused all sorts of chaos in the box, before Delap shot inches wide of the left post from close range.

Huddersfield stuck resolutely to their game plan. There was one point when they managed to go within about 30 yards of City’s goal, but the Tigers were soon back on the attack. It went something like this: Seri got the ball. “Shoot!” cried the crowd. Seri got the ball back. “Shoot!!” The ball fell to Seri once more. “Shoooooot!” urged the fans. The ball landed at Seri’s feet a fourth time. “SHOOOOOOOOT!!!” This time, he did… but high and wide.

Just after the hour, it was time for Liam Rosenior to change things up. Seri and Sean McLoughlin were replaced by Cyrus Christie and Aaron Connolly, just as Nicholls was at last booked for time-wasting.

In the 66th minute, a thumping shot from Twine went just wide of the right post. Four minutes later, a header from Tufan was tipped over the bar by Nicholls, before Tyler Morton shot a yard or so over from 20 yards. Chance after chance after chance… still nearly 80 per cent possession… still no goals.

The crowd were beginning to become audibly frustrated – but more with Town’s time-wasting and deliberate attempts to slow things up, than the Tigers who were still trying their best to break the deadlock.

In the 74th minute, Nicholls got down to block a close-range cross from Morton. A couple of minutes later, Tufan and Nicholls clashed in the six-yard area and both lay prone on the turf for a short while, before Ruben Vinagre replaced Twine.

A bullet header from Delap hit the bar in the 81st minute, and at this point it really did look like this was destined to be 0-0, for all the Tigers’ attacking efforts.

When nine minutes were added – understandable given the time-wasting and injury stoppages – there was a loud roar of encouragement from the home fans… and their patience was at last rewarded just two minutes later.

A cross from Vinagre found Philogene, who knocked it into the path of Delap. His sweeping 12-yard shot crept in off the post… and sent the MKM Stadium into raptures.

City had been just seven minutes from registering another underwhelming home draw – how fine the line between jubilation and desolation! But that’s football, and a win’s a win. Two back-to-back home wins, indeed. It just goes to show that, sometimes, good things really do come to those who wait.