Crystal Palace 0 Hull C 0: Tigers extend unbeaten run to eleven as defence stays strong

A home loss to Bristol City back on January 2 was the last time the Tigers tasted defeat but they came under severe pressure from a Crystal Palace team desperate to keep alive their own play-off push.

Marshalled by captain Jack Hobbs and his central defensive partner James Chester, the Championship’s most miserly defence kept Palace at bay and Barmby admitted their display summed up some superb recent results for his team.

“It was a good point for us but we had to show our resilience again,” he said. “Palace are a very good side and they had some good chances. But the lads have been like that for the last two months because they are a hungry bunch who want to do well for themselves and each other. We try to make ourselves hard to beat as much as we can and we had a great defensive shape again. Everyone really worked hard to give ourselves a good chance but there is still a really long way to go before anything is settled this season.”

Both sides were slow to find their feet, with Palace also unbeaten in their last eight before kick-off.

Josh King had the first real opportunity of the game in the 11th minute but steered his shot just wide, while Chris Martin’s powerful drive was well saved by Vito Mannone at the other end.

Mile Jedinak should have done better with his header from a corner in the 19th minute and Martin skimmed the crossbar with a close-range volley from Nathaniel Clyne’s cross.

Palace stepped things up in the second half as they searched for the victory, with Jonathan Williams’ cross almost headed home by Glenn Murray.

Substitute Tom Cairney came closest to grabbing the points for Hull when his free-kick was tipped over by Julian Speroni in the 64th minute, with Sean Scannell drawing a good stop from Mannone in the final 20 minutes.

Despite their seventh draw in nine matches, however, manager Dougie Freedman admitted a point was just about what they deserved.

“I don’t think we did enough to win the game,” he said. “You can see why Hull are in the top six at the moment but I thought we coped with them well and came more into it in the second half.”

Crystal Palace: Speroni, Clyne, McCarthy, Gardner, Moxey (Scannell 61), Williams (De Silva 71), Jedinak, O’Keefe, Parr, Martin, Murray (Easter 77). Unused substitutes: Price, Dikgacoi.

Hull: Mannone, Rosenior, Chester, Hobbs, Dawson, King (Brady 74), McKenna, Stewart (Fryatt 64), Evans (Cairney 46), Mclean, Koren. Unused substitutes: Gulacsi, Dudgeon.

Referee: Darren Drysdale (Lincolnshire).

Man of the match: James Chester.