Everton recovery falls short

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE Hull City 3 Everton 2:HULL HELD off an Everton fightback to continue their recent resurgence with a remarkable win at the KC Stadium last night. Struggling Hull raced into a 3-0 lead with goals from Stephen Hunt, Andy Dawson and Dean Marney inside the opening half-hour of a thrilling clash.

But Kamil Zayatte gifted Everton a route back in the second half as he scored at the wrong end, and then conceded a penalty which Louis Saha converted.

Everton then pressed in a nervous finale but Hull held on to move level on points with David Moyes’ side.

Everton have now won just once in their last seven league games and morale must be as low as Liverpool’s ahead of Sunday’s Merseyside derby.

It was Everton who looked the shakier at the back and Hull set the tone for the first half as they broke forward to take a ninth-minute lead.

Geovanni combined well with Hunt on the left.

The Irishman’s cross then took a deflection off Joseph Yobo but Tim Howard did well to save at point-blank range as Jozy Altidore controlled and hit a fierce shot.

The danger was still not clear and Hunt was the first to react, racing in to blast home his third of the season from six yards.

The hosts doubled their advantage on 20 minutes after Yobo fouled Zayatte on the edge of the area.

Left-back Dawson stepped up to curl a superb free-kick over the wall and into the top corner.

Baines failed to stop the rampant Hunt crossing from the right and the first of two fortunate deflections in quick succession diverted the ball into Marney’s path and his shot was deflected by Tim Cahill past Howard.

HULL CITY: Duke, McShane, Gardner, Zayatte, Dawson, Garcia (Barmby 78), Marney, Boateng, Hunt, Geovanni (Kilbane 87), Altidore (Vennegoor of Hesselink 75). Subs not used: Myhill, Mouyokolo, Ghilas, Cairney. Booked: Zayatte. Goals: Hunt 9, Dawson 20, Marney 28.

EVERTON: Howard, Neill, Yobo, Distin, Baines, Cahill, Rodwell (Jo 60), Heitinga, Pienaar, Saha, Yakubu (Gosling 46). Subs not used: Nash, Hibbert, Coleman, Duffy, Baxter. Booked: Pienaar, Heitinga, Neill, Cahill. Goals: Zayatte 49 og, Saha 65 pen.

Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).