Hull City 1-3 Aston Villa (2018)

Hull City 1-3 Aston Villa
Sky Bet Championship
Monday 6th August 2018

If you rewind the clock back to almost two years ago, this meeting between Hull City and Aston Villa remains pertinent for all sorts of reasons.

At the time, it was the next 'competitive' game for the Villains after their Championship Play-Off Final defeat to Fulham - something which left them staring both a financial apocalypse and a long spell outside the Premier League, square in the face. It also saw their then-manager, Steve Bruce, returning to a club where he'd enjoyed some of his best days, having twice led the Tigers to promotion to the top division. Jack Grealish's inclusion in Villa's line-up came amidst rumours of an impending move to Tottenham, though it never came to fruition.

Hull, meanwhile, under the tumultuous ownership of Assem Allam, were facing a similarly uncertain time with budget cuts, ever-diminishing crowds, rising ticket prices and fall-outs galore. Relegated from the top flight a year earlier, they'd barely made a mark in the Championship in 2017/18 and optimism about the new season was barely lukewarm.

Writing nearly two years later and it's possible that Villa, who parted with Bruce before going on to clinch promotion, via the play-offs, under Dean Smith, may plunge straight back into the Championship; a scenario which will bring about more questions of their long-term future and whether they can again retain Grealish's services. Hull, on the other hand, are still plagued by the same off-field troubles as before, whilst on the pitch they look destined to drop into League One for the first time in well over a decade.

It's fair to say that for supporters of either, it's been a long, drawn out and painful process watching their respective club slip further into crisis and a seemingly bleak future; an absolute world away from some great days which weren't all that long ago.

Anyway, this game, unsurprisingly televised by Sky Sports given its sub-plots, posed lots of intrigue and once I'd worked out that train times made it possible to get to Hull and back then it was my intention to go to it. I'd not been to the KC Stadium (now named the Kcom Stadium) for quite a few years and that played as much of a part in my decision-making as anything else.

The weather was perfect though purchasing a ticket wasn't quite as straightforward as Hull's ticket office were operating new 'self-serve' ticket machines whereby you choose a particular seat on a virtual map and print off a receipt which was actually your match ticket. It looked and felt 'cheap' and somewhat ridiculous though maybe it's a sign of things to come in the future?

Though the away end was packed to the rafters, the home end was very sparsely-populated; gilt-edged evidence of Allem's huge unpopularity.

In the Tigers' lower league days at the KC, in the mid-2000s, they were regularly attracting attendances around the 20,000 mark, yet the turn out for this fixture was 14,071 - a record 'low' for a league game at their current home. Nevertheless, that figure has been beaten frequently since with more and more folk deciding they can't suffer any more of Allem! With attendances often around the 10,000 mark prior to the Coronavirus pandemic, it's fair to say the potential for 'social distancing' in football stadiums probably won't pose Hull City too many problems if/when they entertain the likes of Northampton and Rochdale next season.

Those who did turn out for this lovely summer's evening affair were treated to a decent contest and a couple of early goals with Evandro Goboel opening the scoring inside 10 minutes for Hull, though his effort was quickly forgotten about as Tommy Elphick equalised for Aston Villa following a really good, set-piece routine.

Thereafter, Villa began to get a firmer grip on things and ultimately they dominated and dictated play. Grealish was unusually quiet considering his high standards but his midfield team-mate Conor Hourihane went close with an effort which clipped the upright, before Ahmed Elmohamady pounced upon a mistake by Tigers' 'keeper David Marshall to make it 2-1 with about 20 minutes remaining.

It didn't stay that way for too much longer, however, as Alan Hutton pounced on more sloppy defensive work to add a third goal - thus leaving home fans eerily silent with many pondering just what exactly the campaign ahead would have in store whilst the visitors from Villa Park danced gleefully and sang with great delight in the away end.

Grealish seemingly waved 'goodbye' to those in claret and blue when he was substituted with only a few minutes remaining - no doubt expecting to finalise his move to Tottenham soon afterwards though one thing led to another, it never came to fruition and instead his season ended with him injuring himself lifting up the play-off winners trophy!

Another year on, it remains to be seen what lays ahead for everyone on what will be a pivotal final day of the season...