Super sub Shaun Maloney was the Hull City hero when he scored within minutes of coming on, as the Tigers continued their march up the table with only 13 fit senior players and a caretaker manager against Swansea City

Swansea on top but stalemate in opening 45 minutes

Both sides went into the game full of confidence following opening day victories and it was clear to see for each team in the early stages. An excellent move that saw Kyle Naughton pick out Wayne Routledge, in turn teeing up Gylfi Sigurdsson, saw the Icelander's long range effort tipped onto the crossbar by Eldin Jakupovic. Hull responded with a chance of their own as Robert Snodgrass found Adama Diomande before checking inside Naughton and firing a great opportunity wide.

The hosts took the pressure up a notch as Fernando Llorente began to give stand in centre back Jake Livermore problems. He saw a header flash wide, before laying off Leroy Fer who could only fire over. Jack Cork picked up on a loose David Meyler pass as he dragged another Swansea effort wide.

Confidence was growing for the Swans as Routledge flicked a cheeky back heel wide from a Modou Barrow cross, though Hull were looking dangerous on the counter-attack as they sat with ten men behind the ball and looked to use their speed when they won it back. Diomande threatened oncemore as he cut in off the left flank and a cross-shot just evaded both the back post and Snodgrass. 

Routledge flicks a cheeky effort wide (photo : Getty Images)
Routledge flicks a cheeky effort wide (photo : Getty Images)

Swansea conjured another golden opportunity as the half began to draw to a close, with Llorente at the centre of it again, heading just off target from a Routledge cross. The hosts were nearly made to pay for their squandered opportunities, with Jordi Amat counting his lucky stars after he caught Snodgrass with a lunging challenge, only for the referee to wave the penalty appeals away on half-time. 

Super sub Shaun seals smash and grab

The visitors had the better start to the second half as Snodgrass saw his shot deflected wide by Stephen Kingsley to prevent a certain goal after an Andrew Robertson cut back. Fer and Sigurdsson saw shots go over and wide respectively for Swansea as the tension began to build at the Liberty Stadium. 

The hosts continued to knock on the door but just could not break through a sturdy Hull defence. As the clock ticked over to 70, a dangerous Sigurdsson corner was prodded just wide of his own goal by Curtis Davies. Federico Fernandez hooked a shot over as Swansea fans were beginning to hope they were not following the same route as Leicester did against Hull last weekend.

Unfortunately for the hosts that was to be the case. Davies forced a save from Lukasz Fabianski as he met a Snodgrass corner, before the pair combined again from the resulting set-piece, this time the ball dropping to substitute Shaun Maloney who bundled the visitors ahead.

Hull nearly doubled their lead soon after as the quiet Abel Hernandez forced another save from Fabianski who had been a spectator for the majority of the game. Swansea threw men forward as expected but their best chance fell to Naughton who saw his shot blocked by Davies. They were let exposed at the back and Maloney and Hernandez took full advantage as the former rolled the ball across to the latter to seal the game at 2-0 in the 93rd minute.

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