Burnley 2-0 Hull: Graham Alexander brace piles pressure on Phil Brown
Published 17:10 31/10/09 By By Mirror Football
A Graham Alexander double on his 100th appearance for the club gave Burnley a 2-0 victory over Hull at Turf Moor to tighten the noose around Phil Brown's neck.
A composed penalty in the first half and a spectacular drive from distance in the second helped the Clarets return to winning ways following last week's home defeat to Wigan.
Giovanni, who thought he had equalised for Hull before then with a free-kick which the referee ruled out, was then sent off to cap a miserable week for the visitors.
Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen passed a late fitness test after injuring his ankle against Wigan last week and started in goal at Turf Moor.
Stephen Jordan shrugged off a thigh strain to make sure he would figure at left-back for this Barclays Premier League match.
For Hull, Matt Duke deputised in goal for the injured Boaz Myhill - who suffered knee ligament damage in last week's draw with Portsmouth.
There was no place for Jimmy Bullard in the squad after he reported a shin problem during Thursday's training.
The game began at a frantic pace with both sides looking to create early opportunities.
The hosts did get some early joy down both flanks with Chris Eagles and Robbie Blake providing testing crosses.
Steven Caldwell was then involved in a nasty clash of heads with Kamil Zayatte providing a brief respite. But despite plenty of intent, neither side's goalkeeper was really troubled.
Burnley's passing game enabled them to dominate and winger Eagles made a promising dart from the right touchline, but just showed too much of the ball to Anthony Gardner.
Wade Elliott almost sent striker Steven Fletcher through with 13 minutes gone but the offside flag went up, while Hull's only real chance was a shot from Seyi Olofinjana which he did not quite catch on the edge of the box.
The opener arrived in the 19th minute when the referee gave a soft penalty and Graham Alexander marked his 100th appearance for Burnley with a goal.
The spot kick came when Stephen Hunt clumsily brought down Tyrone Mears after a fine pass from Elliott.
The Hull players surrounded the referee but Alexander kept his cool and blasted the ball into the bottom-left corner of Duke's goal to give the hosts the lead.
Mears and Blake combined with the latter firing a well-worked free-kick goalbound, but Zayatte managed to divert the ball to safety.
Hull, clearly lacking in confidence having taken just one point on the road this term, pushed on in pursuit of an equaliser and some commanding goalkeeping from Jensen helped the hosts weather the pressure.
The Clarets carved out another golden opportunity with half an hour gone. A fine pass from Andre Bikey sent Eagles scampering down the right.
Blake took up a clever position at the near post but his attempted chip sailed over Duke's crossbar.
Elliott then had a thunderous drive beaten away by Duke at the near post after the Clarets had forced their third successive corner.
Eagles then found himself denied a goal as half-time approached after Duke came up with a smart stop to keep his side in the game.
It was an untidy start to the second period but Hull created the first chance and should have pulled level.
Striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink slotted the ball through for Olofinjana but instead of shooting, the Tigers midfielder opted to play the ball square for Kamel Ghilas.
The 25-year-old forward, who was already under pressure before he got the ball, fired straight at Jensen.
Then a fine run saw substitute Bernard Mendy beat several Burnley defenders before his shot was initially fumbled but eventually gathered by Jensen.
Hull then had a goal ruled out in the 67th minute when Geovanni thought he had levelled with a curling free-kick which Jensen could only push into the roof of his own net. But it was ruled out for pushing in the wall.
The Brazilian was booked for his protests - and just a minute later he was given his marching orders for a clumsy challenge on Fletcher which saw him pick up his second yellow.
The Clarets pegged their struggling opponents back with Eagles orchestrating much of their attacking work down the right.
And a second goal, which was always on the cards following Geovanni's dismissal, came in the 77th minute when Alexander fired home in spectacular fashion from 25 yards.
Kevin McDonald found the evergreen midfielder in space, he advanced completely unchallenged and unleashed a powerful drive which nestled in the bottom corner of Duke's goal.
