Caleb Folan’s late strike gives happy Hull the perfect start

Hull City 2 Fulham 1
Well, who’d have believed it. Very few in the KC Stadium after the first quarter of an hour or so, during which Fulham were so dominant it looked as though the Premier League newbies were going to be not so much put in their place as humiliated. Instead, out of nothing, Geovanni’s shot equalised Seol Ki-Hyeon’s early header, and the match took on a totally different aspect.
Seeing Seol outpace Michael Turner onto a long ball in the opening minute must have given the City fans immediate food for thought, but any apprehension they felt would have been quickly forgotten if Mark Schwarzer hadn’t dived to push Geovanni’s third-minute header onto his left-hand post after three minutes. The little Brazilian found himself unmarked when Marlon King headed a long cross back into the middle of the penalty area, and Schwarzer then had to recover quickly to block Ian Ashbee’s attempt to force home the rebound.
If that was encouraging for City, however, the next 15 minutes or so were torture. Phil Brown’s decision to field three players over 30 - Nick Barmby, Ashbee and George Boating - in midfield had looked risky beforehand, and the movement and neat passing of the Fulham quartet of Simon Davies, Jimmy Bullard, Danny Murphy and Zoltan Gera left the Tigers looking decidedly ponderous.
Uncertainty at the heart of the City defence didn’t help matters, and the goal they conceded in the eighth minute was horribly simple. Bullard pinged in a diagonal cross from the right, and Seol, having lost Anthony Gardner, rose to glance a firm header beyond Boaz Myhill.
More joy should have followed in short order for the away team. Ashbee blocked Davies’s close-range shot after Gardner had headed an attempted clearance straight to him, and John Pantsil, a summer signing from West Ham, nearly turned the resulting corner past Myhill.
Davies volleyed another corner just over, and Gera sliced a close-range shot wide with only the goalkeeper to beat, but to general disbelief, it was City who scored next. Geovanni picked up the ball 40 yards from goal, turned, ran forward, and with nobody deigning to put in a challenge, drove a left-footed shot beyond Schwarzer. It might turn out to be the most important goal City score all season.
Having been in danger of being overrun, City suddenly started to compete. Boateng put himself about as of old, and Fulham began to look uncertain, though had Gera not poked wide after Bobby Zamora flicked on Bullard’s cross shortly after half-time, they might have reestablished their early dominance.
Instead it was City who began to get on top. Turner headed a corner just over, and Geovanni, presented with golden chance by Barmby, contrived to volley wide from just six yards. Schwarzer had to save well from Richard Garcia, and with Fulham’s nervousness increasing, Brown introduced a touch more pace to City’s forward play in the form of Caleb Folan and Craig Fagan.
With eight minutes remaining, he had his reward. Fagan, chasing a long ball down the right, harried Paul Konchesky into a mistake, robbing the full-back as he stumbled, and with Schwarzer coming out to narrow the angle, squaring for Folan to sidefoot calmly home.
“There were moments in the first half that weren’t enjoyable, but goals change games and give players’ confidence,” said Brown. “For a period after they scored we were running around chasing shadows, and if they’d have got a second it might have been game over.
“But a little bit of magic from Geovanni got us back into the game, and I thought in the second half we fully deserved what we got.”
Fulham boss Roy Hodgson agreed, up to a point. “All credit to them for their second-half performance. We started brightly, and I hoped we’d play the same sort of football after the break, but they were more aggressive and we didn’t get our central midfielders on the ball.”
He couldn’t resist a dig though, suggesting “the weight of long balls” may have told on his team, and no doubt it won’t be the last this season. City won’t mind, as long as they are picking up points. “There may not be many times this season we’ll go behind and come back to win,” said Brown.
Star man:George Boateng (Hull)
HULL:Myhill 6, Ricketts 6, Turner 7, Gardner 5, Dawson 5, Garcia 6 (Fagan 73min), Boateng 8, Ashbee 7, Barmby 6 (Halmosi 61min), Geovanni 7, King 7 (Folan 69min).
FULHAM:Schwarzer 7, Pantsil 5, Hangeland 6, Hughes 6, Konchesky 5, Davies 6, Murphy 7 (Andreasen 85min), Bullard 7, Gera 6, Zamora 5 (Dempsey 81min), Seol 6 (Nevland 85min).
Referee:P Walton
Attendance:24,525
FROM:TIMESONLINE