HULL........... 2 WATFORD.... 0
UNBEATEN HOME LEAGUE RUN NOW AT 41 AS REF DROPS RED-CARD CLANGER
TEN-MAN Hull recovered from the highly controversial sending-off of Oumar Niasse to record a fourth successive home win and boost their relegation fight.
Referee Bobby Madley and Watford wideman M’Baye Niang were the guilty men at the KCOM Stadium after Niasse’s dismissal.
The on-loan Everton striker’s straight red card in the 25th minute was harsh in the extreme. Niang did Niasse no favours as he went down in a heap after barely being caught with a challenge that was high and late but in no way reckless.
But Madley saw it differently and soon had howls of abuse and derision ringing in his burning ears, while Niang – on loan from AC Milan – had to contend with jeers from Tigers fans.
Silva confirmed Hull will attempt to get the red card overturned. He said: “Of course we’ll appeal. Niasse said to me he didn’t touch the player.
“I don’t want to say too much because I respect the job of the referee is not easy. We all make mistakes. But my feeling is it wasn’t a red card. Maybe it was a yellow card.
“The decision of the referee put us in trouble and it’s the second time it’s happened since I came here.
“If the referee makes the decision on the reaction of a player or the fans, it’s not the right way. The referees need to make the decision on what they see.”
The jeers turned to cheers, however, as on-loan Liverpool playmaker Lazar Markovic handed Hull a 62nd-minute lead before midfielder Sam Clucas clinched an improbable victory with a stunning finish nine minutes later.
So Hull boss Marco Silva’s remarkable home run shows no sign of ending. It’s now 41 home league games unbeaten, including spells in charge of Estoril, Sporting Lisbon, Olympiakos and the Tigers.
Harry Maguire, with two goals in two games, took the captain’s armband for the home side but the centre-back hardly led by example in the first minute when he gave his side an almighty scare.
Maguire’s wayward backpass failed woefully to find keeper Eldin Jakupovic but the ball ran past the far post for a corner.
Clucas skewed a shot well wide after 15 minutes when Andy Robertson’s left-wing cross was only half-cleared. But a storm erupted around the ground when Niasse was dismissed and Niang’s every touch was then booed by the home fans.
Jakupovic came to his side’s rescue with a tremendous reaction save after 32 minutes from Sebastian Prodl’s header on the end of Jose Holebas’ right-wing corner.
There was more anxiety for Hull when Maguire narrowly diverted the ball over the frame of his own goal after Nian played the ball in from the right.
Hull centre-back Andrea Ranocchia was then lucky to escape a booking for a crude challenge on Niang had and moments later Madley was escorted from the field at half-time by stewards amid a torrent of bile.
Frontman Abel Hernandez came on at the interval for Evandro as Hull looked to restore some attacking punch.
Jakupovic came up with another terrified reflex stop to deny Troy Deeney, who got on the end of Etienne Capoue’s long throw-in
But when Capoue’s shot was blocked Hernandez played the ball upfield and Kamil Grosicki broke down the right to cross for Markovic, whose stooping header hit the bar and looked to have bounced over the line. But Markovic made sure by hammering home the loose ball.
Clucas curled a free-kick just wide but had something special in store, a left-foot cracker from around 25 yards that ripped past keeper Heurelho Gomes after Watford failed to clear properly from a corner.
Hull remain two points clear of thirdbottom Swansea from the same number of games but the manner of this success can only lift morale.
Silva said: “It’s a really important three points for us in the circumstances. The players were fantastic, playing 65 minutes with 10 players against a good team who last week achieved 40 points. This fight will continue to the end.”
Watford boss Walter Mazzarri defended Niang against accusations of play acting. He said: “If it was a red card, it was a red card. I really don’t understand people booing him. It wasn’t his fault that the other player got a red card.”
And he added: “We made silly mistakes – we should have at least drawn and that makes me really angry. But Hull were very good – congratulations to them.”