Hull City 2 Exeter City 0.

Saturday 19 January 2002.

Match Report from the Western Morning News courtesy of Stuart James 

THE prize of a fifth successive away league win and parity with pre-season promotion favourites Hull in the Third Division table was never in reach for Exeter.

After last Tuesday's heroics at Scunthorpe, John Cornforth's side was blotted out by a Hull team desperate for a win after taking only one point from their previous five games.

Cornforth said his players were an honest bunch who could not be faulted for effort, but they looked a class below Hull and the possibility of fighting a rearguard action for a draw soon disappeared.

Midway through the first half, David Beresford's skimming cross from the left glanced off Alex Watson to Hull's Faroe Islander Julian Johnsson, whose volley from five yards was impossible to stop.

Beresford's fizzing wing play confirmed Cornforth's worst fears. He said: "I knew David would be a danger from our time together at Swansea City, where he had a spell on loan. He's one of the fastest players in football.

"He ran riot and gave our right-back Barry McConnell a roasting – that's never happened before during my time at Exeter."

City had a torrid time after Johnsson's goal – Hull's first for 501 minutes – instilled confidence in his team.

The game was more than an hour old before Steve Flack delivered Exeter's first on-target effort, but it was only a tame header and former Exeter man Gary Alexander then scored Hull's second with a firm header into the corner of the net.

Exeter saved their best for the last with a bout of sustained pressure.

In the 87th minute, Graeme Tomlinson neatly let the ball run through to Glenn Cronin, whose low drive escaped Paul Musselwhite's grasp but went straight to a Hull defender when Exeter players were on hand to finish the job.

"We were a bit unlucky there," said Cornforth. "We could have had a chance of making Hull sweat a bit if it had gone in."

The Grecians' boss, though, was pleased at the total return from two games in five days on either side of the Humber.

"I would have settled for two draws, but we got a win at Scunthorpe and a point more than we would have expected from the two games," he said. "Although we didn't play well, we still showed some good qualities against strong opponents. Hull were deserved winners and I expect them to win promotion."

Cornforth urged the fans to get behind his team against promotion challengers Mansfield tomorrow night.

"In the past when we've lost a game, we've usually responded well," he said.

Referee: A Leake

Attendance  8459 with 50 City fans.