Hull vs. Chelsea 30th January 2010
After an early morning trip to Preston and a late return from Burnley, the idea of playing our delayed fixture against Hull on a Tuesday night conjured up about as much enthusiasm as the idea of leaving your rich boyfriend alone in a room with Vanessa Perroncel. However the possibility of putting some distance in between us and Old Father (give me some more extra) Time was at least some consolation for a more than decent turnout shivering their bits off at a hostile KC Stadium.
The return of Didier Drogba (because after all, who really missed Kalou?) was something to get excited about and Ancelotti played safe with Ashley Cole, leaving him out after his knock at Turf Moor. Zhirkov dropped to left back and Deco came into Midfield whilst Alex was rotated out in favor of Ricky Carvalho.
With regards to Hull I couldn’t pick one of their lineups from another if my life depended on it, but Bilbo Hunt emerged from the shire with all the sporting grace we’ve come to expect from him. Even less gracious were their fans. Whilst we’d expected the obligatory piss taking aimed at John Terry what we got transcended terrace banter and was just downright nasty. On more than one occasion the constant baiting in reference to his wife prompted some dirty looks from the captain, whose form continued to hold well in the face of all the adverse attention.
In spite of the fact that they had not won a game since November, Hull came out fighting and forced two early corners. By the time we passed the ten minute marker though, Lampard and Anelka had had some joy in pushing forward. H**t was proving annoying on the left, pushing Ivanovic until our right back cranked up the aggression and used his superior size to begin battering him. It was worth the warnings from Clattenburg to see him elbow the little b**tard into the advertising boards as much as it was fun watching him subsequently whine about it and soon the Serb’s efforts succeeded in slowing down the pace of the home side on that front. It actually inspired pride on my part to hear the home fans boo him for the rest of the match.
We almost went ahead thanks to a diving header from Ballack, who was having on the whole another poor game, but he couldn’t quite recreate his effort from earlier in the season. Shortly afterwards a Hull corner met with the unmarked head of Mouyokolo and Cech was left with little chance of stopping his close range effort. The Blues dug in following the goal with Deco, Malouda - who had retreated back into half-arsed mode - and Anelka having attempts on goal, but Hull showed no signs of backing off. In the end it was a rash challenge by Boateng that gave Chelsea the break they had been searching for, bringing Anelka down on the edge of the box. Cue Drogba, whose free kick deflected slightly off of the Hull wall to level things just before the break.
Marking on set pieces was undoubtedly the focal point of any rage that flew the players’ way in Italian during half-time but yet again Hull came at us with a free header right at the beginning of the second half. The home fans took much joy out of a yellow card that was waved at JT following the move but as the half progressed he had his own attempts on goal, as did Lamps, Malouda and Ballack. Hull, however, again refused to be cowed and created just as much at the other end where Mouyokolo continued to be a menace. The best chance for all three points came courtesy of Daniel Sturridge as injury time closed out. A high ball from Joe Cole put his fellow substitute on the end of a Volley but Myhill pushed it wide.
1-1 was probably all we deserved on what was a difficult night, but it was disappointing to see the gap between us and Gary Neville - who is issuing warnings in the press about how they are coming for us - not extended as much as we would have hoped.
Man of the hour: Ivanovic - for beating the crap out of Stephen H**t.
Tw*t of the day: H**t. Obviously. As well as the fat little moron in row 12 of the home fans opposite us who thought it was highly amusing to keep pointing at his skull - then Cech and laughing. He also called Lampard fat - if you had seen him inhale two pies at half time you would have seen the comedy irony.
Chelsea: Cech, Branislav the Scouse Slayer, Carvalho, Terry(c), Zhirkov, (A. Cole 80) Ballack (J. Cole 71), Lampard, Deco, Anelka (Sturridge 81) Malouda, Drogba.
Hull City: Myhill, McShane, (Zayatte 89) Gardner(c), Mouyokolo, Dawson, Fagan, Boateng, Cairney, Some dirty cheating murderous little hobbit-like gypsy, Altidore, (Kilbane 85) Vennegoor of Hesselink (Zaki 65).