Slovenia vs Northern Ireland (devedeseta minuta)

Video clip Score: five / 5

PROMOTION DREAMS

Hull City are on the verge of getting promoted back to the Premier league, and their manager Steve Bruce has sounded extremely confident about their chances this season. A late push from the club has helped them get into the second place in the table with only a few matches remaining. The team have a four-point advantage over third placed Watford, whose form in recent weeks has been threatening to dislodge Hull City from the second automatic promotion place. Hull have managed just two wins in the last five matches, but Bruce is confident that they will be able to hold on the challenge from Watford.

Hull City could clinch promotion to the top flight this weekend depending upon the results. They will be playing against Barnsley, while Watford will be playing against Leicester City. If Watford do not manage victory against Leicester, then Hull will be promoted automatically to the Premier league. However, should Watford get a positive result against Leicester, then Bruce will have to wait for another weekend to see if he can once again managing the top flight.

Bruce has said that it is time his team forgot about Watford and focused on their own results because the future is in their hands.

“We’re in a wonderful position and it’s important that we stay positive. We’re four points ahead, there’s two games left and we need to win one of them. Who wouldn’t have taken that (our current position) a month ago let alone at the start of the season? We’ve got to get it in our minds that we have to go to Barnsley and get a result. If we do that then we’re promoted. Forget about what Watford do, it’s all about us,” said Bruce. Cardiff recently managed to secure the title after the 1-1 draw with Burnley.

Slovenia v N Ireland part 2

Movie Ranking: 5 / 5

HULL STRUGGLE

After managing to put together a run for the automatic promotion spots only a few months ago, Hull City have slipped down the table in recent weeks on the account of poor form from the team. Now, the team must sacrifice their footballing philosophies in order to achieve promotion at the end of the season according to the manager Steve Bruce. After going through a sticky spell in the month of January when they slipped out of the top two positions, Hull City have been able to regain their moment as a result of three wins in the last five matches.

This has put them back in the second position, and the manager Steve Bruce is keen to maintain this position till the end of the season. Only the top two teams are promoted automatically to the Premier league, while the remaining one place is contested by four teams in the play-offs. Hull City managed a lastgasp winner against Derby County in order to get above Watford in the table. Due to the fact that the pitch at the KC stadium is not at its best at the moment, the manager Bruce has said that it is time that the team forgot their football philosophies and concentrated on only winning football matches.

“You can forget all about performances at this time of year, it doesn’t matter. You’re not necessarily looking for the team to play well, you have to go and get the result. If you can play well then great, but it’s not what matters now. We’re almost at the end of February. After these next few days at home, it’s one more game in February and we’re then looking at March. So it’s vitally important that we can pick up another couple of wins to keep it going,” said Bruce.

HAPPY WITH A POINT

The Hull City manager Steve Bruce has said that he is happy with the performance of his players despite the 1-1 draw at Peterborough United during the weekend. Hull City came into the encounter as one of the teams chasing the automatic promotion spots. They have been in excellent form over the last couple of months, which helped them close the gap on leaders Cardiff City. However, the team has been suffering in terms of form of late. They have managed just one victory in the last five matches, and the lack of the winning run continued after the 1-1 draw with Peterborough.

It was an extremely disappointing result for Hull City considering the fact that Peterborough were in the relegation zone. This has also meant that Cardiff City have been able to open a 10 point advantage, while Hull City have also been overtaken by Leicester City in the table. Hull managed to open the scoring through an own goal from Newell in the 33rd minute. Even though they were unable to double their advantage, they looked on course for three points. However, McCann scored a penalty in the 79th minute to equalise for Peterborough and it remained the way till the full-time whistle.

“You’re always disappointed to be pegged back in the final few minutes of a match, but in all truth I don’t think we deserved anything more than a point. We gave away a soft penalty which I have absolutely no complaints about, but I can’t be too disappointed to be sat third in the league with only goal difference keeping us out of the automatic promotion places. Any footballer would have struggled to play on a slippy surface where the ball was jumping around all over the place,” said Bruce referring to the tough conditions.

BRUCE IMPRESSED WITH DISPLAY

The Hull City manager Steve Bruce has said that he is extremely delighted with his display of his team in the recent match against Watford. Hull City managed to bring an end to the seven-game unbeaten run that had pushed Watford to the sixth position in the table by beating them 2-1 at home. As a result of this victory, Hull City themselves strengthen their position for finishing the play-offs come the end of the season. There is also an outside chance of Steve Bruce and his men getting promoted to the Premier league automatically.

David Meyler opened the scoring for Hull City in the match and the opposition could have no complaints about it because Hull City were easily the best team in the first half. Even though Watford were extremely good in the second half, they were unable to break the stubborn defence of Hull City. Steve Bruce’s men also managed extended their lead in the second half through a goal from Robbie Brady, who scored with a wonderful 25-yard freekick. Nathaniel Chalobah’s effort was cleared off the line for Watford, who only managed to get a consolation in the injury time through the goal from Troy Deeney. It was the sixth goal in just seven matches for Troy Deeney, as he continues to display impressive form.

“Watford in the second half were better but the first half I can’t really remember my goalkeeper having a touch of the ball and we’ve had two chances in the first three minutes which we’ve missed. But we knew Gianfranco’s (Zola) team would be different in the second half, they’re on a great run of form but I think we were worthy winners. We could have been and should have been out of sight,” said Steve Bruce after the match, which raised Hull into the fourth position.

EVANS WILL LEARN

The Hull city player Corry Evans has said that the team are extremely aware of the lessons they learnt from the last season. Hull city were one of the teams expected to challenge for promotion spot into the Premier league to the play-offs. However, they were even unable to qualify for the play-offs position last season. This time around, they will not be making the same mistake according to Corry Evans. Corry Evans was one of the best players of the team in the recent 1-0 win over Barnsley. This result helped Hull city move to the fifth position in the table.

They are just three points behind the leaders at the top of the table, and there is a real belief that the club that they can finally get promotion back into the Premier league. The club has made a very good start to the new season under the new manager Bruce, who has guided the club to eight victories already. The club were doing well until the final stages of last season, when a slump in form meant that they had to be satisfied with the eighth position rather than the top six, which would have provided them with the ability to take part in the play-offs.

“We were unlucky last year. We had the period in March where we had a terrible time but the players are more experienced now. That stands us in good stead for this season. We’ll not be making the same mistakes this time around. There’s a few of us in the same boat where every game we play is still building that experience. That’s vital in this league. You only have to look at Andy Dawson, Paul McKenna and Robert Koren,” said Corry Evans. The club will be playing against Burnley next weekend.

HULL SMASH MILLWALL

Hull City has defeated Millwall by a profound margin of 4-1 on Saturday at KC Stadium. It was a professional effort by the Hull city players. They played according to the plan and hardly made a wrong move in the match. On the other hand, the Millwall team looked wayward and there was a lack of coordination between the Millwall players. Had the Millwall goalkeeper, Maik Taylor, not made some brilliant saves, the team could have lost the match with a much bigger margin.

The Millwall players showed a bit of resistance in the second half, but, the Hull team had done enough damage in the first half. The Hull City players scored all the goals in the first half. Robert Koren opened the scoring for Hull City in the 14^th minute of the match. He put the ball into the left hand corner of the goal post with a well placed shot from a distance of 25 yards. That goal was fantastic to watch. Jay Simpson doubled the lead of Hull City in the 32^nd minute. The goal was set up by Stephen Quinn. Simpson got the ball pretty close to the penalty box and he didn’t let the opportunity go begging. The ball went straight into the bottom corner of the net and that was enough to bring huge smiles on the face of home supporters.

Millwall got into trouble when Abdoulaye Faye scored the third goal for Hull City in the 36^th minute. James Chester assisted the goal and Faye capitalized on his pass by heading the ball past the Millwall goalkeeper. Sone Aluko gave Millwall the fourth blow just a few minutes before the half time break.

Darius Henderson scored the only goal for Millwall in the 63^rd minute and restored some pride for his team. Hull City will play its next match against Leeds United on 18^th of September at Elland Road.

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HULL SNAP UP ALUKO

New Hull City striker Sone Aluko has said that he was unable to resist the ambition of the manager Steve Bruce, who was instrumental in helping him move to the KC stadium. Sone Aluko has been one of the in demand strikers in this transfer window, but none would have expected him to sign for the Championship club Hull city after he was linked with moves to various high-profile clubs across Europe. However, the 23-year-old has said that the ambition should be the manager Steve Bruce and the owners was extremely important in helping him close Hull city over the various other offers he had.

The Hull city owners recently appointed the former Sunderland manager Steve Bruce, who has been out of work since being sacked by the Northeast club midway through last season. It was Steve Bruce who gave Sone Aluko his debut as a teenager when he was at Birmingham city. He has said that he was extremely impressed by the long-term ambition within the club. Steve Bruce has already stated that he does not want to spend a lot of time in the Championship and would like to get promoted with Hull city as soon as possible.

“I knew (Steve Bruce), I knew Keith Bertschin as well, Stephen Clemence too, so I knew a lot of the staff which helps with settling down. But overall it was the ambition of the club that made me come here. I spoke with (Bruce) and I spoke with the owner too, and they were very positive about getting in the Premier League straight away. It’s not just talk because they’ve invested so for me it was the right challenge I was looking for,” said the striker to the official website of the club after signing a new two-year contract with the Championship club.

BRUCE LOOKS AT GUZAN

New Hull city manager Steve Bruce is looking at the possibility of bringing former Aston Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan to the Championship with Hull city. It is extremely possible that the club will be losing the fight to sign Vito Mannone on a permanent deal. The Arsenal goalkeeper was on loan at the club last season. He was the first choice for the former manager Nick Barmby, but it is thought that Steve Bruce is looking at other options. He is extremely concerned that the lack of experience within Vito Mannone will not help the club’s chances of getting promotion to the Premier league next season.

The 27-year-old American goalkeeper Brad Guzan, though, has many years of playing in the top flight. He is now available on a free transfer after being released by Aston Villa last season. Hull city also came extremely close to securing the signature of Manchester United’s Polish goalkeeper Kuszczak, but he recently completed his move to Brighton and Hove Albion. As a result, Brad Guzan is one of the in demand goalkeepers in the country. Steve Bruce will face a lot of fight to secure his signature. Meanwhile, it is also thought that the former Sunderland goalkeeper would be interested in bringing former Aston Villa striker Heskey to the club.

The 31-year-old former Leicester City and Liverpool striker has been released by the club. He scored only one Premier league goal throughout the season, but he has always performed well in the Championship. Current Hull city goalkeeper Boaz Myhill is being linked with a move away from the club after being relegated to the second choice for most of the last season. Boaz Myhill was a key member of the Hull city squad that gained promotion under manager Phil Brown, but was ultimately relegated a few seasons ago.