Shaqiri screamer ends Stoke’s rotten run and silences Hughes boo boys
WITH an hour gone, a foul mood was sweeping through the Bet365 like one of the cruel winds that whip this notoriously blustery venue.
After a bright start Stoke, who had lost four in a row, had conceded a needless equaliser. As well as this two of their players had rowed on the pitch and Mark Hughes’s decision to replace Saido Berahino with substitute Peter Crouch had been met with howls of derision from the terraces.
Not-so shrinking violet Charlie Adam, subbed at the same time as Berahino for Jon Walters, had even walloped a seat on his way off.
But less than 10 minutes later Crouch headed fellow benchwarmer Walters’ cross home and the jeers turned to cheers before, with the relegation-fighting Tigers prowling for an equaliser, Xherdan Shaqiri struck a 31-yard thing of beauty to completely kill off the game.
You would think they would trust their manager’s judgement in these parts by now.
Mark Hughes, tactical genius?
‘You can write that if you want,’ joked a satisfied Welshman — who added that he was not surprised by anxiety in the stands following the run of defeats to the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and Leicester.
‘It’s understandable,’ Hughes said. ‘We knew that period would test us.
And that’s what we’ve just come through.’
Given better finishing Marco Silva’s side may well have taken at least a point.
It was not lost on the Portuguese.
‘The difference is the finishing,’ he said. ‘We had a lot of chances like Stoke. They scored and we didn’t.’
The battle to avoid the final relegation slot now appears to be a shootout between Hull and Swansea City. And Silva rightly saw this as an opportunity to extend the two–point gap missed.
‘We lost the chance to take some important points,’ he admitted.
Stoke had taken an early lead when, for reasons unknown, Hull’s defence saw fit to back off Marko Arnautovic when he received the ball 30 yards out.
The Austrian bounded forward before unleashing a shot from the edge of the area which deflected off the boot of Harry Maguire and crashed in off the bar to make him his country’s leading Premier League scorer.
Finally there were signs of life from the visitors. Liverpool reject Lazar Markovic, enjoying his time by the side of the Humber more than his stint on the Mersey, crossed for Everton outcast Oumar Niasse — another seeking better fortune away from the north west port — who could not reach to poke home from five yards out.
The game remained open after the break and Hull levelled when Maguire’s volley deflected off both Ryan Shawcross and the post.
Then came the double substitution and the handbags between Erik Pieters and keeper Lee Grant, as Pieters cleared a cross Grant had come for. ‘It is what it is,’ said an unconcerned Hughes. ‘If you’re demanding of yourself and team-mates that’s what happens.’
It took some time, but Stoke got there in the end. Hull’s survival remains in their own hands — reason enough to be cheerful.