Just read this.... brilliant!!!! Four games, four wins, four clean sheets – the Tigers have started the 2020/21 season in four-midable form. Grant McCann’s men maintained their 100% record in League One with a 1-0 victory over Plymouth Argyle, courtesy of home debutant Hakeeb Adelakun’s expertly-taken 10th-minute volley. It was a second successive 1-0 home win, with the victory over Crewe in the KCOM Stadium curtain-raiser sandwiched in between 2-0 away successes at Gillingham and Northampton. Only goals scored is keeping Hull City off the summit, with leaders Lincoln top by virtue of netting three more goals. Below we take a closer look at the numbers behind the Tigers’ flying start… 100% Record… The Tigers are one of just four teams in the EFL – and six in English football’s top four divisions – with a 100% winning record. League One pace-setters Lincoln, and Championship sides Bristol City and Reading, are the only other EFL clubs to have taken a maximum 12 points. Premier League leaders Everton have won four out of four, while Aston Villa also have a perfect record, albeit having played a game less. Best start in 72 years… The last time Hull City started a campaign with four straight wins was in 1948/49, when the Tigers won their opening nine matches en route to the Third Division North title. In City’s last season at this level, the 2004/05 promotion campaign, Peter Taylor’s side had nine points at this stage having lost their third game 3-2 at Port Vale. The promotion seasons of 2007/08, 2012/13 and 2015/16 saw the Tigers pick up four, seven and seven points respectively from their first four fixtures. Clean Sheets… Following Aston Villa’s astonishing 7-2 humbling of champions Liverpool, Hull City are now the only team in England’s top four tiers not to have conceded a single league goal. The only previous occasion the Tigers have kept four consecutive clean sheets at the start of a league season came in 1925/26. City didn’t concede in their first five matches that campaign – and McCann’s men can equal a 116-year Club record with another shut-out at Fleetwood this Friday. Resolute Defending… Perhaps most impressive about Hull City’s defensive record is they have only allowed their opponents eight shots on target; Gillingham and Northampton had one each, with Crewe and Plymouth registering three apiece. The outfield players have done a sterling job of protecting Matt Ingram’s goal, with the Tigers’ defensive determination never more in evidence than against Argyle, when seven shots were blocked. Goalkeeper Ingram has been dependable when called upon and has now kept five clean sheets in six league and cup appearances, with the only goal conceded coming in stoppage time against Leeds.
Was that 3-2 loss at Port Vale the one when we equalised in injury time & were still celebrating when they popped in the winner? ****s
