City held by battling Tigers
Daniel Cousin celebrates his opener with Hull City striker partner Marlon King
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Sunday, 16, Nov 2008 09:12
Manchester City have extended their winless run to four games after drawing 2-2 with Hull City at the KC Stadium.
Stephen Ireland scored a brace for City while Daniel Cousin and Geovanni, against his former club, netted for the Tigers.
The result leaves City just a point off the relegation zone while Hull stay in sixth spot.
After a sterile opening, the Tigers took the lead on 14 minutes after Cousin capitalised on Tal Ben Haim's woeful backpass to slot the ball in.
To add insult to injury, City keeper Joe Hart was substituted after colliding with Cousin and is set to miss England's friendly with Germany on Wednesday.
His replacement Kasper Schmeichel was wrong-footed minutes later when Cousin headed Sam Rickett's cross inches wide.
Mark Hughes' men then profited from a defensive blunder when Kamil Zayatte's attempted pass across the box found Ireland who stabbed the ball into an empty net to make it 1-1.
The visitors felt they should have been awarded a penalty six minutes later when Robinho's shot appeared to hit Michael Turner's hand but referee Phil Dowd waved play on.
But City took the lead in their next attack when Ireland controlled Javier Garrido's pass and curled his shot into the far corner beyond Boaz Myhill on the stroke of half-time.
Phil Brown's men exploded out of the blocks in the second half with 's header dipping over the bar while Schmeichel kept out Marlon King's low shot across goal.
And their possession was rewarded on the hour mark when Geovanni's curling effort deflected off Vincent Kompany and rolled into the net to make it 2-2.
Hull came agonisingly close to an immediate response with King's header kept out by Schmeichel.
Although they carved out few chances in the second period, City should have regained the lead when Darius Vassell scuffed his shot wide with the goal at his mercy.
Hull had Myhill to thank for a stunning save in stoppage time to deny Vassell and see the Tigers end their run of three straight defeats.