Beating a big club with a late winner is such a great feeling, even more so when you have been on a wretched run of form. Leading up to last Saturday's Hull match, we had lost three on the spin to extend a winless streak that stretched back seven weeks. Such a miserable string of results needed to be stopped to save our season and what better way to do it than against one of the Division's top sides. There were worries before the game over our wounded strikers and which two would be patched up to make a starting pair. In the end, Junior Agogo bypassed the bench and was thrown straight in after his knee operation, while the manager sent out Lewis Haldane to form our fourth front partnership of the campaign so far. Despite the setback of an early goal for Hull, where goalkeeper Kevin Miller let the ball slip from his grasp for the second week running, any fears at the other end regarding the condition of Agogo were soon blown away as the six-figure summer signing put in a fine performance. He seemed (at first glance) to flick in Rovers' equaliser and then completed the comeback with a composed hook at a corner to send the Mem wild in the 87th minute. The first Gas goal of the afternoon was later awarded to Ryan Williams, whose inswinging cross was judged to have flown straight in, and he must have had a very smug smile on his face after rubbing his employers' noses in it. Hull's decision to allow Williams to play against his own team smacked of arrogance, particularly as he had scored against Darlington in his only outing this term, in the LDV Vans Trophy. With a healthy goal record so far in his career, surely Hull knew that he would pose a real threat and on top of that they could have greatly increased their own chances of winning the game by forcing us to play someone else out of position on the left wing. Williams would also have been extra-motivated for this particular fixture, desperate to show his owners what they were missing out on by displaying the sort of form that might persuade Rovers to make his move a permanent one, or perhaps even make Peter Taylor change his mind and keep him at Hull. It reminded me of when City loaned out Aussie striker David Seal to Division 2 rivals Northampton about six years ago and gave the Cobblers permission for him to line up against City for their clash at Sixfields. Like with Williams last week, Seal ended up scoring the home side's first goal as they went on to win the match 2-1. If you blinked, you may have missed it, but there were several eye witnesses that saw a man fitting Ray Graydon's description actually show some emotion after the final whistle on Saturday. After months of barely batting an eyelid on his walk back to the tunnel whether we had won or lost, a medley of fist-clenching, arm-waving and congratulatory clapping was clearly seen last week by open-mouthed bystanders, to accompany the usual chewing of gum. I heard that some fans' estimations of Graydon had in fact been improved by this impromptu outburst of feeling, which showed that he did actually care after all. Now that his emotions are beginning to show after the game, perhaps he will start to betray his poker-faced indifference during the match, with all-new goal celebrations and maybe even gesticulating bust-ups with the fourth official every so often, to keep the fans entertained when we go a goal down. © Chris Chappell - Friday 5th December 2003 Back to Index