On This Day (24 April 2010): Sunderland’s Victory Relegates Hull City
A Darren Bent goal made the difference for the Lads during a fairly uneventful clash on Humberside.
Sunderland's Darren Bent (second left) celebrates with his teammates after scoring his sides first goal (Photo by David Howarth/PA Images via Getty Images) | PA Images via Getty Images During a game that had a real end-of-season feel to it, Sunderland won 0-1 at Hullthrough a Darren Bent goal, effectively relegating the home side. This win brought Steve Bruce’s men up to tenth in the table in what was becoming a reasonably decent first season at the club for Sunderland’s new manager — despite a long winless run that occurred between Christmas and March. The game was a drab contest, in truth; Hull showed why they were near the bottom of the table whilst the away side displayed why they would achieve a mid-table finish, and there was a lack of intensity.
The early goal came through Bent as Kenwyne Jones met Alan Hutton’s cross with a far-post header and Bent was on hand to tap home his twenty fifth goal of the season from close range. Moments later, the same players combined again as a low cross from Jones found Bent in space, but the striker drilled wide. In contrast, Hull had plenty of possession during both halves but their lack of quality was quite telling during the contest.
Despite this, they were offered a glorious opportunity to level up when former Hull defender Michael Turner upended Geovanni in the box, winning a penalty for the home side. Hull’s talisman Jimmy Bullard, who’d scored all four of his previous spot kicks for the club, inexplicably dragged his effort onto the outside of the post — a body blow for the home side and a let off for the away one. Before the drab second half ensued, there was late drama in the first half of this contest when Sunderland defender Hutton got into a tussle with future Sunderland player Jozy Altidore.
Hutton picked the ball up and threw it gently against Altidore, who rose to his feet and charged into the Scot with his head. Referee Lee Probert brandished the red card at Altidore while Hutton received treatment for a facial injury. But when the former Spurs defender got up, he was also dismissed, to the obvious fury of Sunderland boss Bruce.