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Hull City

EFL Championship 2024/25: Thoughts on Cardiff City and Plymouth Argyle relegated with Wrexham ready to chase their PL dream after a 3-0 win over Charlton in League One

by Sports Benches April 26, 2025

Don’t know what to say about Cardiff to begin with but a 0-0 draw v West Brom not enough unfortunately to stay in the 2nd tier a bit longer as League One awaits to try and get back there starting August.

Even if they did win then it would still be a long shot anyway when it’s not just about winning another one but they better need a superior goal difference than others, which is something they don’t have much like Plymouth Argyle despite their 2-1 win last night against Preston North End.

It remains to be seen which head coach Cardiff want going forward as Aaron Ramsey should’ve been there or even bringing Neil Warnock back for a short spell & got rid of Omer Riza sooner as time will tell about their owner Vincent Tan.

Bummer for Plymouth also who did the best they can in the thick of it right from mid-season following another change of head coach in Milon Musric when Wayne Rooney didn’t do well yet again as next game v Leeds might not be for the survival to escape the bottom three but at least they can do any favours for Burnley.

For now, which last team between 22nd and 23rd will stay or go?

Hull City would have to go I’m afraid since they also had some issues both on and off field all along this season so no surprise there if they have to start all over again with mid-table side Portsmouth next up.

Luton, meanwhile, will do enough to earn another year in the 2nd tier since the next match v West Brom ain’t that hard where they have no permanent coach for the minute and Luton has got a astute young manager they prized away mid-season from Wycombe Matt Bloomfield.

And great to hear Wrexham going one step further just outside the biggest stage of English Football from the PL. Their 3-0 win v Charlton Athletic now enough to join Birmingham City as the next promoted League 1 side to play in the Championship next season. Even if it’s a runner-up finish, they’re all here for the journey with the help of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney – both Alpine minority shareholders too and Rob’s wife Kaitlin is currently playing Morgan on ABC’s High Potential as they’re back for fun crime-solving Season 2 this Fall following a breakout first season in the network’s record books.

Other than that, going to be an exciting Play-Off knockout race from here with Stockport, Wycombe, Charlton and either one of Leyton Orient or Reading with the final round to spare.

They all play some good attacking football but as long as Leyton don’t lose to Huddersfield, they could have their own Wrexham-like journey in front of the queue ahead of any other 2-3 teams as mentioned in this Play-Offs fight. If not, could see Stockport v Charlton instead.

April 26, 2025 0 comment

24/25 EFL Championship: Hull City celebrate Christmas now out of the bottom three with Ruben Selles & Mason Burstow following their 2-1 home win over Swansea City

by Sports Benches December 21, 2024

It’s been a while but Hull City were able to celebrate Christmas on home soil with the win 2-1 earlier this AM over the Welsh side Swansea City thanks to that game winning strike from summer striker signing Mason Burstow with about ten minutes to go and not only that, they now sit just above the bottom three League One (third-tier) relegation spots in 21st place.

Fair play to Swansea off the back their good defensive line coupled with Harry Darling’s good header when they made some progress right before half-time, who plays centre-back & has been a great addition to the squad for 2-3 years now, when now sacked Southampton manager Russell Martin brought him over to Wales in the first place during that time from MK Dons.

It’s just a shame that a few hit and misses on the counter-attack including the goal kick restart allowed Hull to take back with their 2nd goal before it was too late.

They remain 12th on the ladder after 22 games of 46 where Swansea is currently nine points off the 6th-placed Playoffs bubble at 27. So still lots of work to do if they are going to bridge that gap between now and May under another former MK Dons coaching alum in Luke Williams.

Meanwhile, looks like the Ruben Selles era is so far, so good – having came in there to try and turn this around like he did with the troubled Reading FC side over the past 18 months over in League 1 (third-tier). Good to see them score one early while making the most out of their chances up front.

Yes, they may have been bossed by Swansea later on when it comes to the possession. But at least Hull got away with it as said above when they had the chance to regain the lead once more thanks to Swansea’s late goal kick error and Hull has done enough to hold off the Swans through full-time 2-1.

Plus, good to see Mason Burstow registering Goal No.2 this term and that came under the new management initially with Andy Dawson and now Selles when German Tim Walter didn’t treat him well until he was shown the door three months ago. He’s still got lots to prove having came over during the summer from Chelsea following his underwhelming loan spell last season at Sunderland.

Yes, he’s seeing another raft of coaching changes yet again but looks like he’s happy this time for the minute as scoring at least 10 + will do it at this level since he doesn’t score as much – as he’s got the same height as Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin and the ability of Cameron Archer and also Armando Broja too (still on Chelsea’s books but is currently on-loan though at Everton).

The fight continues for Hull to climb up the ladder and steer clear away from the bottom three (depending on results of course) when they head off to Lancashire against Preston North End on Boxing Day Thursday (Friday 2 AM AEDT) with Swansea hosting London side QPR at the same time (Swansea.com Stadium).

December 21, 2024 0 comment

Other Sports Football

EFL Championship: Hull City’s impact 2nd half turnaround sealed their 1st win of the 2024/25 season as well as Narcis Pelach’s first loss into the new job at Stoke City by 3-1

by Sports Benches September 20, 2024

It looked like at one stage that Stoke City had the keys following an early goal in the first half by Ben Wilmot following a huge change within management a few days ago. However at the end of the day, Hull City got away with the 3-1 win away from home at Bet365 Stadium. For Stoke, they dropped down a bit from 13th to 14th – even though they already sacked Steven Schumacher a few days ago and yet they continued to pay compensation once again to have Narcis Pelach onboard from Norwich City. Meanwhile, Hull got their first win of the 24/25 season following a series of draws and losses after Round 6.

A lot can change as thought Stoke fans would see some fresh breath of air thanks to Pelach as the new manager/head coach but again, they’ll have to give him time since it’s the boards choice to bring him on rather than going differently with a free agent option. Doesn’t mean it’s impossible not to bring someone young who is out of work or even promote within in-house as this is the way things are to align modern day’s football standards (i.e. promote youngsters with entertaining football) unfortunately should Pelach be gone within 1-2 years. Other than that, Stoke’s 2nd half wasn’t as good as the first including one own goal later on by their 1st half goal scorer Ben Wilmot (Centre-Half).

And congratulations to Hull with the win as still a long way to go when it comes to reaching Top 6 to have another opportunity to get themselves into the Premier League but it’s early days still between now and May. Yes, nothing much happened in the first half other than Stoke’s early lead but Hull did improve in a few ways later on via a brilliant team effort including some fresh faces off the bench & a Ben Wilmot own goal at the other end to safely guide them home. That midfield three engine was up and thriving today with Kasey Palmer (off a missed penalty kick) & Regan Slater providing them the goals & as said with the impact subs, Slater and Liam Millar (winger) proved to be the difference from the team’s poor 1st half into an excellent three-goal finish.

Hull may get the chance to move up the ladder when they will host the last-placed (24th) strugglers Cardiff City next Saturday, while Stoke will travel to Middlesbrough at the same time (currently 10th who will also face the high-flying Sunderland side later this weekend).

September 20, 2024 0 comment