A Hull of a win

The goals from Michael Duff, his first league goal for the Clarets, and Gifton Noel-Williams put the visitors on the back foot and they never recovered, and hardly troubled Brian Jensen all afternoon.

Tonight, Hull were playing in Rugby League's Super League Final, they were beaten in that too, and when the players emerged from the tunnel just ahead of kick off I thought some of the rugby players had turned up. What a massive size they are and I'm sure some of them, and definitely striker Jon Parkin, would have struggled to fit into one of our Errea 5XL shirts.

They might as well have been in our Errea shirts, they might as well have worn Claret & Blue, from the Longside their black kit looked far too much like ours in the sun and made it difficult to pick out players all afternoon. Why on earth they didn't play in their home kit only they will know but the referee should have put a stop to this straight away – they could have always borrowed our old jade and black halves if they hadn't brought anything else.

We've made a habit of starting brightly recently, a first minute goal at Stoke, an early goal against Southampton and a good start at Norwich, and we did the same again and got at Hull right from the off and it didn't take us long to get in front.

It all started with a corner on the right, Wade Elliott took it and it was met by John McGreal whose header looked to be heading for the top corner. That would have brought him his first goal in over two years but Hull keeper Boaz Myhill tipped it over for another corner.

There was no escape for Hull this time as Wade hit over another excellent flag kick and this time Johnny Mac's central defensive partner Duff was there to head home. It is one of those rare events and last time Duff scored a league goal was as long ago as April 2003 when he netted the second in Cheltenham's 3-0 home win against Blackpool.

It was just what we wanted, an early lead against a side struggling for form, and before they had chance to recover we had doubled the lead, and what a good goal it was. It all started when Micah Hyde, who had an excellent first half, won the ball back for the Clarets with a great tackle on the Hull player. He got the ball out wide to Wade and his cross was met by Gifton who headed home with some ease.

The Turf was rocking, and we just kept going looking for more goals. Gifton almost got another as Wade again got in a top cross, Andy Gray almost got a shot in and then in the next attack his terrific shot was blocked, and all this time Steve Jones was giving right back Alton Thelwell a torrid time down the wing.

It wasn't all one way traffic and Duff, having given us the lead, helped preserve the two goal advantage when he got in just in time and got a vital touch to a Jon Parkin effort that went just wide. Even in the sun, and with the difficulty on kits it was clearly Parkin, there was nothing else quite that size anywhere on the pitch.

Up front alongside this extremely large former Macclesfield striker was a player I rated so highly when he was playing for Sunderland and Leeds. That's Michael Bridges, but injuries have blighted his career and there's no doubt the sharpness he once had is no longer there and that showed clearly when he got his one chance this afternoon and failed to get a shot in.

The poor assistant referee in front of the Longside must have been having real problems in the sun, I'm sure he twice flagged defenders offside, unable to see who was who, and he certainly missed the push on Gray that surely had to be a penalty. That might just have been evened out on half time when Hull thought they should have had when Brian Jensen collided with Parkin (that's a heavyweight clash for you) but referee Penn, who had a reasonable enough game, waved the claims away.

Hull had just come into it before the break and they probably started the better after half time, having taken off the beleaguered Thelwell and moved Danny Mills to full back. They didn't really ever threaten to pull a goal back though and any ascendancy they enjoyed soon petered out.

That was the signal for Burnley to step it up again and much of the play was in Hull's half of the pitch. The nearest we came to a goal was from a free kick just outside the box. We wondered whether Wade would be booking a taxi again but this time it was equally well worked and it was Jon Harley who got a shot in which was well saved by Myhill down to his right.

This was the period when, had we got a third, we would have run out convincing winners. But that third didn't come and, as Hull hit even more and more aimless and badly placed long balls, the game lost its way. Not as though we were too bothered, we'd got it won and we were possibly already looking forward to Southend on Tuesday.

So no four goals for us this time, but a fourth win in five games since that disappointing day against Colchester, and second place in the league, things couldn't be much better and once again there were enough good individual performances to make choosing a man of the match a difficult task.

This time I've got two main contenders, Michael Duff who turned in a faultless performance at the back, and also James O'Connor who continued his recent superb form in the midfield. It's been a difficult decision but I've gone for Jimmy this week.

I like the look of the league table right now, I would think it is probably back in those heady days of the 2001/02 season when we were last this far up the table. Long may it last.

The teams were;

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Frank Sinclair, Michael Duff, John McGreal, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott (Alan Mahon 84), James O'Connor, Micah Hyde (Chris McCann 89), Steve Jones (Garreth O'Connor 88), Andy Gray, Gifton Noel-Williams. Subs not used: Stephen Foster, Kyle Lafferty.

Hull: Boaz Myhill, Alton Thelwell (Danny Coles 45), Danny Mills, Michael Turner, Andy Dawson, Craig Fagan, Ian Ashbee, Dean Marney (John Welsh 73), Mark Yeates, Michael Bridges, Jon Parkin (Nicky Forster 67). Subs not used: Matt Duke, Ryan France.

Referee: Andy Penn (West Midlands).

Attendance: 11,530.