CHAMPIONSHIP PLAY- OFF FINAL SALVATION
Rich reward for Bruce who kept faith with misfiring Senegal star
THERE have been times this season when Mo Diame has had Hull City fans tearing out their hair in frustration.
And there have been plenty of them as well.
The big man has a talent to match his stature and on his day is as good as anyone i n the Championship.
But all too often he has failed to produce and, for some of the Tigers faithful, manager Steve Bruce should have considered ditching him a while ago.
Bruce, however, with his vast experience in the game, knows a player and he has kept faith in the Senegalese star.
And when it mattered, when it really mattered, Diame repaid his gaffer with the only goal in football’s most lucrative game. What a goal it was, too, one that would not have looked out of place in the Premier League.
And i f any strike i n the Championship this season has been worth the minimum £173million in revenue that comes with winning this game, it was this one.
“It was a wonder-goal that would have graced any final,” Bruce said, and he was not wrong.
Louder
The Tigers, who finished fourth in the table and beat Derby over two legs to reach the showpiece final, were the better side on the day and only the most one-eyed of Wednesday fans would argue that.
The incredible Owls supporters were much larger in number and much louder in voice than their Hull counterparts.
But the best teams win football matches, not the best fans and Bruce’s men were more than a match for Carlos Carvalhal’s side.
Whether the Wednesday boss stays on now remains to be seen, but after such a good season it is hard to imagine he will not look to test himself at a higher level somewhere in Europe.
His side looked the liveliest of the two early on and Michael Dawson picked up a booking which could have come back to haunt him when he hacked down Italian striker Fernando Forestieri.
Ross Wallace then struck a free- kick but it was straight at keeper Eldin Jakupovic.
Slowly, though, Hull started to get into the game and they went close when Tom Huddlestone’s header was cleared off the line by Kieran Lee. Tom Lees was then unable to cut out a delicious pass from Diame that released Abel Hernandez but Keiren Westwood in the Wednesday goal made the target smaller and saved well. Diame hit the outside of a post after holding off t hree Wednesday defenders and when t he i mpressive Moses Odubajo sprung the offside trap Westwood had to save well again. Soon after the break, Forestieri looked to capitalise on a mistake by Dawson, who missed his header, but Curtis Davies produced a fine tackle to save his mate’s blushes. And Hull should have taken the lead when Odubajo’s sweet cross