Oliver Norwood The Unlikely Hero As City Progress

Hull City went through to the second round of the league cup after beating Sheffield United 5-4 on penalties with the game finishing 1-1 in normal time. The Tigers scored first after a counter attacking move through Nouha Dicko and Jon Toral, with the latter scoring the goal. Substitute Billy Sharp pulled one back for the home side but it wasn’t enough as City won on penalties.

City scored after just 20 minutes with a breakaway goal. The counter attack was lead by Jon Toral who played the ball to Nouha Dicko. Dicko then passed the ball back across goal to Toral who put the ball into the net at the backpost.

The Tigers then had another fantastic opportunity to double their lead as Will Keane played a wonderful dummy sending Jackson Irvine through on goal but his effort went wide of the goal.

Reece Burke was having a fantastic game for City with a sliding tackle preventing Leon Clarke from scoring. Burke made another huge tackle as he was left one-on-one against Ben Woodburn 50 yards away from David Marshall’s goal, but he made a fantastic challenge to prevent an attack. But that was as far as Burke’s night would go as he picked up an injury and was forced off to be replaced by Stephen Kingsley in the three-man defence. Hopefully the injury isn’t too serious for arguably City’s best centre back so far this season.

Both teams had chances early on in the second half. John Lundstram blazed the ball over the bar from the middle of the penalty area. City replied with a chance of their own but Brandon Fleming’s whipped cross could only see Will Keane’s headed attempt come off the post. Sheffield then hit the woodwork themselves through John Egan as his downward header came back off the crossbar.

15 minutes from time Sheffield equalised. Billy Sharp found himself some space at the backpost and volleyed the ball past David Marshall.

Jon Toral saved City’s skin in the 90th minute after Chris Basham’s header was cleared off the line by Toral with Marshall beaten. His effort sent the game to penalties with no extra time being played.

Oliver Norwood stepped up to take the first penalty for Sheffield but smashed his effort over the bar. You could say karma after some of his unnecessary comments towards Hull City when he signed for The Blades. Nobody else missed their penalties meaning Norwood’s miss sent City through to the second round of the cup with Jon Toral, Will Keane, Kamil Grosicki, David Milinkovic and Kevin Stewart scoring.

This was a good performance from a City side whose oldest player starting on the field was 26-year-old Nouha Dicko. It was also good to see some young faces in Robbie McKenzie, Brandon Fleming and Adam Curry as they hope to break into the first team side soon.

Lineups:

Hull City:

David Marshall
Robbie McKenzie – Kamil Grosicki (69’)
Brandon Fleming
Adam Curry
Reece Burke – Stephen Kingsley (37’)
Angus MacDonald (C)
Kevin Stewart
Jackson Irvine
Jon Toral
Nouha Dicko – David Milinkovic (65’)
Will Keane

Sheffield United:

Simon Moore
Kieron Freeman
Enda Stevens
Ryan Leonard – Chris Basham (60’)
John Egan
Jack O’Connell
Oliver Norwood
John Lundstram – John Fleck (71’)
Mark Duffy – Billy Sharp (46’)
Ben Woodburn
Leon Clarke (C)

Written by: Alex Green