Derby County 2 - Hull City 2

Phil Brown had the last laugh on his return to top of the table Derby County at Pride Park as his gutsy Hull side rescued a priceless point to move out of the relegation zone and put the brakes on Derby's promotion charge.

The opening 15 minutes saw both teams signal their intent. Derby seemed relaxed on the ball, passing it around in defence and building attacks through the vision of David Jones. Hull defended stoutly and looked promising on the counter, with the pace of Nicky Forster and strength of Jon Parkin keeping the Derby defence on their toes. Neither team, though, could muster a clear-cut chance.

Despite a catalogue of desperate clearances and blocked shots, the ball somehow failed to end up in the back of the net. Instead it fell on the edge of the penalty area to Stephen Pearson, who left the Hull defence in his wake as he raced into opposition territory. He slid the ball across the penalty area to the advancing Gary Teale, with the winger placing the ball into the far left corner to score his first goal in a Derby shirt.

Rather than imploding as usual, Hull searched for an equaliser. They didn't have to wait long as Darren Moore committed a needless foul on Parkin. From the resulting free-kick, Andy Dawson flighted a unstoppable 25-yard shot past Bywater to draw the Tigers level. The goal seemed to have given the away side a lift, as Myhill denied Pearson's header with a reflex save. But deep into first-half stoppage time, Hull were undone as Moore found space to force home Jones' in-swinging corner.

Hull were also very wasteful. Forster and McPhee both skied the ball into the stands after forcing the Derby defence on to the back foot. Hull persisted on the counter-attack, but Derby never looked in danger of conceding.

Both managers made changes - Davies looking for the goal that would put daylight between the two sides, and Brown desperately seeking an equaliser. A third for Derby looked on the cards as Barnes' snapshot from an acute angle forced Myhill to tip the ball away. Hull pounced on some flat-footed defending to snatch a good equaliser.

Evolution of the Internet!

Quite a cool video all about the evolution of the Web:


Via Technosailor.

U.K. Government Pledges £1.5m for Scouts' Centenary

Ed Miliband, Minister for the Third Sector, today put almost £1.5million behind plans to host 40,000 scouts from 216 countries at this summer's Centenary World Scout Jamboree.

The Office of the Third Sector, in the Cabinet Office, will give the UK Scout Association £1.495m to support the event in Hylands Park, Chelmsford, between July 27 and August 8.

However, when you compare £1.5m to how much the government are funding other projects with it puts the whole thing into perspective!

£1.5 million is quite a hefty amount from a government that doesn't give us much normally.

Anyway, we should be grateful for anything, so thankyou UK government for your backing, it is very much appreciated! For anybody else interested there is a petition over on the number 10 website which says throwing money at us simply isn't enough we need senior politicians making big statements as to how much Scouting means to the UK and the world. So please do sign it!

Hull City loose Craig Fagan!

Hull City's Craig Fagan will join Derby County this week in a deal that could be worth £1m. Peter Taylor originally snapped him up for the tigers in March 2005 for a undisclosed sum, which I think was probably around the £500,000 mark at the most. So not a bad return overall, in that we probably doubled our money in two years!

Hull City 1 - Middlesborough 1

Nicky Forster poured more misery on Premiership Middlesbrough after he came off the bench to force a replay as Hull earned a 1-1 draw in the FA Cup third round. Australian international striker Mark Viduka seemed to have given beleaguered boss Gareth Southgate some cheer as he slotted home in the 73rd minute to give the visitors the lead.

But Hull, who sit one place above the Championship relegation zone, were not to be denied and Forster scored with 11 minutes remaining, just three minutes after replacing Stephen McPhee. By that stage Boro should have been over the hill and out of sight but Nigerian forward Aiyegbeni Yakubu was at his wasteful worst, missing two glorious chances before the break.

He could yet have made amends with three minutes left and an opportunity to win the game, but once again his finishing let him down. Yakubu found himself clean through on 22 minutes but even after rounding Boaz Myhill, the goalkeeper managed to get enough of a touch on the Nigerian's shot to slow the ball and allow Danny Coles to get back and clear the danger.

Two minutes later Yakubu ended up in the net but he had failed to take the ball with him after Myhill missed Stewart Downing's left wing cross. Middlesbrough were dominating as expected with Downing to the fore in much of their attacking work, but the absence of Australia goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer and on-loan Real Madrid defender Jonathan Woodgate left them vulnerable at the back.

And that proved decisive as Boro's defence went absent in the 79th minute, allowing Forster to head David Livermore's free-kick past stand-in keeper Brad Jones.

**WELL DONE HULL CITY**

Happy New Year!

Just writing a quick post to wish all my readership a happy New Year, have a good one!

Merry Christmas!!

Just in case I forget to say I hope all my readership has a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year! Unfortunately I don't have much time to post today...

Hull City 4 - Cardiff City 1

I made my first visit to the KC Stadium in Hull and was pleased with the performance and result! The Tigers's best performance of the season saw them thrash Cardiff 4-1 in front of over 23,000 at the KC. Hull City led 2-0 after 9 minutes, Delaney finishing from close range and a Marney screamer putting City in control.

Fagan added a third before half-time, and although Chopra pulled one back for the visitors, Bridges made the match safe later on. There was even time for the impressive McPhee to chip a penalty onto the crossbar. The result lifts City above next week's opponents Leeds United, we are now three points from safety, and having played the type of glittering football that offers real hope of salvation. You can watch the highlights of the match on YouTube by clicking here.

Finished Hull Universities e-christmas card!

Finished the University of Hulls Business and Community Knowledge Exchanges e-Christmas card today which involved me having to learn Flash at SEED Software(Software Engineering Experience Development), involving a colabrative project between me, Dr Peter Robinson, Robert Sherratt and Carl Barrow. Personally, I am pleased with the finished result even though it has involved a lot of hard work.

Everybody who has seen it so far seems very impressed and I have learnt some useful skills, whilst completing the task.

Plymouth Argyle 1 - Hull City 0

Unfortunately the tigers lost again today, although they where away to a team in the top half of the championship. A superb solo effort from Sylvan Ebanks-Blake gave injury-hit Plymouth Argyle all three points as managerless Hull City came close to nicking a point at Home Park. Ebanks-Blake's shot on the turn midway through the second half was the one moment of real class in a scrappy affair.

Hull, under the caretaker management of former Derby boss Phil Brown for the first time, proved obdurate opponents until Ebanks-Blake cushioned Lilain Nalis' pass, spun round and turned Damien Delaney, and whipped a shot past goalkeeper Boaz Myhill from the edge of the penalty area.

The midfielder, who has played more than 350 games for his home-town club, is believed to have damaged cruciate and medial ligaments and faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines. He was replaced by 16-year-old Dan Gosling, who became the first Argyle player born in the 1990s to represent the club.

The lively Craig Fagan caused concern when he broke behind the Argyle backline, but a heavy touch and Luke McCormick's swiftness from his goal-line saw off the menace. The Tigers' spirit was then broken with the lovely piece of individual skill from Ebanks-Blake, who beat the otherwise impassable Myhill for pace.

The new caretaker manager Phil Brown said after the match that "If the players continue to show the commitment they showed then it will certainly give me a better chance of becoming the next manager. "I understand we are in the results business and if I can buy the chairman a bit of time of making the right decision about the next manager then that's my job done. "If I do that it will mean we are winning games and give me a better chance. "I am quite positive. The players showed a level of commitment that I was satisfied with in a very difficult week for everybody involved at the club."

Hull City 2 - Southampton 4

A thrilling game at the KC Stadium left the job of Hull manager Phil Parkinson in serious jeopardy as Southampton claimed all three points with a 4-2 victory. Hull created a chance early on when Craig Fagan swung in a cross from the left which Nick Barmby managed to get on the end of. However, as the former England man stretched to reach the ball, his six-yard shot was easily collected by Kelvin Davis.

Unfortnately, Southampton took the lead on 19 minutes when David Livermore lost the ball in his own half. Jones took the ball forward for the Saints before playing a neat ball across goal towards Grzegorz Rasiak who thumped his shot home from just four yards out. The visitors doubled their lead six minutes later. Stuart Elliott gave a free-kick away on the edge of the box and Gareth Bale stepped up to curl the ball into the back of the net with a sweet left-footed effort from 20 yards.

Hull grabbed a goal back in the 43rd minute when Barmby slammed the ball home from close range after Southampton had failed to clear a Tigers corner. The home side then managed to equalise on the stroke of half-time when Fagan got on the end of a poor back pass from Jones before slotting the ball past Davis from 15 yards out.

Southampton regained the lead with 15 minutes left when Skacel played the ball across goal from the left and Rasiak powered home his second goal of the match from close range. The visitors sealed victory and another three points seven minutes later when Bradley Wright-Phillips found himself with space in front of goal and he had no trouble slotting the ball home from 15 yards.

Under-fire Tigers boss Phil Parkinson said: "Our response to their second goal was tremendous and I thought the effort and commitment of our lads was top-drawer.