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Out of form Hull City managed a shock draw against much-fancied opponents Spurs but the feat was only achieved due to the excellence of Boaz Myhill in the Hull City goal, who pulled off a series of astounding saves much to the infuriation of the Tottenham players who, despite peppering the Welshman’s goal with shots, couldn’t find a way past the ‘keeper who provided a goalkeeping masterclass at White Hart Lane.
Starting the game on the back of five clean sheets with 26 goals scored on their own patch this season, the same amount of goals that their opposition had conceded in away matches this term, Tottenham had the perfect opportunity to close the gap on third placed Arsenal to just one point before The Gunners play on Sunday. And most would have expected them to take the opportunity too but Hull City excelled defensively and when the back four couldn’t stop Spurs’ mercurial attacking stars, Boaz Myhill was consistently brilliant in denying them. The mixed form of Tottenham when they play at home can’t really be accounted for the dropping of points on this occasion, because the North London outfit completely dominated the game and would have won had it not been for a freakishly good goalkeeping display: the score could otherwise have matched the 1-5 loss Hull sustained at the KC Stadium in August.
The Tigers had an early chance to take the lead as a bending cross from the left was met by the head of Richard Garcia but the winger’s header skipped wide of Huerelho Gomes’ goal. Then began the beginning of Myhill’s saving spree, and it started with a miraculous double save culminating with a flying block from a close range Robbie Keane shot. Then in the second half another stunning double save denied Keane for a second time, this time from just three yards after the Irishman followed up a Luka Modric drive that Myhill had done well to parry in the first place. Keane was clearly struggling to understand how the net wasn’t bulging as he stood with his arms held aloft with a look of bemusement directed at his adversary, Myhill.
The form of Hull’s number one makes it almost impossible to believe that Matt Duke has been favoured over him at all in the last season but unfortunately the ‘keeper hasn’t always been as consistent as in this encounter, where he continued to thwart the opposition. He again stopped a Luka Modric strike as the ball was only cleared as far as the edge of the box by City but Myhill dived to his left with a solid parry to see the ball out for a throw-in. And he still wasn’t finished. Peter Crouch was brought on to see if he could find a way past the ‘impenetrable barrier’ as Harry Redknapp tried to force a win in his 500th game as a boss in the Premier League. But Crouch was found wanting too, as Myhill produced arguably the save of the game to keep ot of powerful header from the England striker which was goalbound until City’s keeper made himself big, throwing himself at the ball to maintain the most deserved clean sheet of the season.
Suddenly, the ‘keeper may have become one of City’s most saleable assets. The club needs to slash £9m from the wage bill to ensure their financial security in the future but selling fringe players isn’t going to do it. Having already turned down large bids (reportedly £5 million) from Wolverhamton Wanderers for Stephen Hunt, City could use Myhill’s impressive form to get a good price for the Welsh international, safe in the knowledge that they have two other goalkeepers with Premier League experience. With Daniel Cousin, Caleb Folan and Peter Halmosi all set to leave the club and Nathan Doyle already gone, half of City’s money problem could be solved. But they have another problem. They are in a relegation battle and instead of selling players they should really be trying to bring players in to solve the lack of attacking firepower, and probably another defender as backup to Gardner and Zayatte with Ibrahima Sonko being told he’ll never play for Hull City again and Steven Mouyokolo looking decidedly dodgy in his appearances for City. If the Tigers can secure a good left sided player on loan for the rest of the season it might be worth cashing in on Hunt now, because should they be relegated at the end of the season they won’t receive half the fee they would now, and by then the money problems will have been amplified.
Still, Hull have secured a great result in a match they would not have expected to take anything from. Whilst Tottenham fans will be disappointed to drop points against relegation candidates, they will have to take their hats off to Myhill for an outstanding display and can’t fault their attackers for being unable to beat him. Now that City have a solid defensive formula, being more clinical up front will undoubtedly see them climb the table.
Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Hull City
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