Menacing Chelsea Prove Hull's Mortality But Brave Tigers Still Burning Bright

The established order was restored in East Yorkshire last night but only after Hull City had given their illustrious guests an exacting work-out that is well disguised by the scoreline. True, as the second half unfolded, it ultimately became easy for Chelsea to revive their title challenge by bringing Hull's six-game undefeated streak - a run featuring five wins - to an end but Phil Brown's team devoted the first half to demonstrating precisely why these sides started the night level on 20 points in the Champions League zone.

The refrain "Tigers, tigers burning bright" blared out of the public address system before kick-off but it did not take long for some of the shine to be stripped from Hull's evening.

Although Paul McShane appeared to have curtailed a menacing early Chelsea attack by dispossesing Florent Malouda, his clearance traveled only as far as Frank Lampard. With the ball rolling along the edge of the area, the England midfielder's subtle first touch enabled him to execute a sublime, left-footed chip which arced over Phil Brown's defence and caught Boaz Myhill cold before dropping just inside the post.

It was the 99th League goal registered by a player who can do little wrong right now and served as a reminder that Hull may be mortal after all. That said, Brown's side could swiftly have equalized when, spotting a gap between Jose Boswinga and Ricardo Carvalho, Michael Turner threatened Petr Cech with a thumping header that flew fractionally off target.

"Turner for England," chorused the KC in homage to their center-half, one of the surprise success stories of the Premier League season so far whose performances have been one of the main reasons why this was the first time in four games that Myhill was picking the ball out of his net.

Indeed, if Chelsea were determined to exorcise their frustrations after their unscheduled defeat against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, the home side were not about to surrender lightly. Floating behind the front two, Geovanni is Hull's creative catalyst and a player well known to Luiz Felipe Scolari, who coached him at Cruzeiro.

Scolari had doubtless told his Chelsea charges all about Geovanni's dead-ball ability and Petr Cech was required to make a decent save from one of his whipped free-kicks which bounced viciously in front of the visiting keeper. Shortly afterwards Daniel Cousin went even closer to scoring when his shot from distance tantalizingly came back off the base of a post.

With Malouda also dispatching a half-volley just over Myhill's bar, it was turning into a tremendous game full of incisive passes and crisp interceptions from both teams. With morale clearly buoyed by their four straight wins preceding last night, Hull ignored any thoughts about damage limitation and went all out for an equalizer.

This quest was aided by a similar determination on the part of Chelsea's Boswinga and Ashley Cole to overlap from full-back at every opportunity, though Mikel John Obi frequently dropped back into almost a back three that offered Hull inviting space to exploit.

The line between being commendably positive and slightly gung-ho is fine, though, and Brown's Tigers were nearly caught out by a Chelsea counter-attack featuring a glorious Joe Cole pass and a drive from Nicolas Anelka that was destined for the top corner until Myhill performed heroics to tip it over the bar. Undeterred, Brown's men bounced back, testing Chelsea with a Geovanni free-kick and a header from Marlon King.

Hull, clearly on a collective adrenaline high, worked hard to close Chelsea down when they did not have the ball but attempting to second guess Lampard and company over 90 minutes can run down the concentration of the most willing opponents.

So it proved when Boswinga swung in a cross and Turner and Kamil Zayatte went into an 'after-you' routine, leaving the ball for Myhill and fatally permitting it to bounce between them. Anelka may not score as many goals as a striker of his talents should but he had no hesitation in pouncing on this gilt-edged opportunity. As Myhill advanced, the Frenchman teased the keeper, dragging the ball round him before stroking it in.

Anelka thus vindicated Scolari's decision to field an offensive line-up against a side who so recently undid Arsenal at The Emirates. After all, if Mikel is counted as a quasi defender, the excellent Lampard was the only remotely containment minded individual in a starting midfield also featuring Deco, Malouda and Joe Cole.

Malouda, a midfielder renascent under Scolari's management, lent a flattering air to the scoreline when he stretched out a boot and diverted Carvalho's cross beyond Myhill but do not bet against Hull bouncing back. Whether they can manage it at Manchester United remains to be seen but on this evidence Brown's side are no nine-day or nine Premier League game wonders.