What a great point for City on Saturday. White Hart Lane is a tough place to go, but a gritty team display and inspirational performance from Tigers keeper Boaz Myhill gave the visitors a much-needed 0-0 draw; the team’s first clean sheet away from home this season.

The praise shouldn’t only go to Myhill though. This was a really tough, committed team performance, with only Geo failing to step up to the mark. He was very disappointing again. The rest of the team were excellent, with Fagan back to his tenacious best and the back four manfully keeping Spurs’ dazzlers at bay.

Myhill was still needed to produce two amazing double saves, as well as a brilliant reaction stop from Crouch as the frustrated visitors resorted to humping the ball into the box in the last third of the game.

I was surprised by Tottenham’s tactics as the game progressed. They actually made it easier for City by hoofing the ball at Crouch in the closing minutes, with the witless home fans baying for a penalty every time the lanky target man was touched.

The home support also grew frustrated with City’s timewasting efforts, which although not ideal morally, were truly understandable and extremely effective in breaking Tottenham’s rhythm.

Week after week fans of a black and amber persuasion are told how rubbish our team is, and how we’ll be paggered by these teams of superstars, so what do they expect? Hull City’s squad is made up of grafters. Not the best technically, but players who will put in a shift and attempt to follow the manager’s game plan to get the club Premier League points.

Why should we turn up and try to play expansive, open football? Chances are we’d be picked off by classy teams such as Tottenham, exactly as in the second game of the season when we lost5-1 at the KC. It’s not our job to lay down and take a beating just so the home team’s fans can be entertained. We’ll be resolute and hard to beat, and if teams like Tottenham aren’t good enough to break us down, then tough, you don’t deserve the points.

Enough of whingeing cockneys anyway, what about us? A brilliant result which gives us two points from this tough run of games. This was always going to be a difficult period, with games against Man Utd and Chelsea still to come. The rub of this tricky run however is that easier games must be on the horizon, hopefully with Jimmy Bullard available.

February and March still look tricky fixtures-wise, but there are definitely points for the taking in games against the likes of Blackburn, West Ham, Portsmouth and Fulham.

Hopefully the Spurs result can give the team a bit more confidence for away games. We still haven’t won away this season, and I think that’ll be the key between now and the end of the season. Many of City’s early points last year came on the road, and ultimately kept the club in the Premier League. There’ll be some must-win home games coming soon (Wolves in a fortnight’s time for example), but a couple of wins away from home would really ease the relegation pressure on the players.

The most crucial activity currently is the club’s activity in the transfer market for the next couple of weeks. Rumours abound that Amir Zaki has joined City on loan until the end of the season, which could be a very good, if risky signing.

The priority is still to move players out of the club however, with Cousin on the verge of a move away from the KC. A midfielder and defender would be useful acquisitions, but Pearson’s first job has to get the club running in a reasonable financial fashion.

I’ll definitely do a Q+A this week, and react more on the Zaki signing if it’s confirmed. Anything else you’d like to ask, or want me to talk about, then please drop me a comment.

Cheers,
TC