EPL 09/10: Hull get a lifeline and round-up

Hull City came from behind to beat Stoke City 2-1 at the KC Stadium to ease the pressure on under-fire manager Phil Brown.

Many presumed that another defeat for Hull and Brown would have been sacked but having been given a vote of confidence from the board earlier in the day, the Tigers seemed refreshed.

However they fell behind just as they were beginning to stamp their authority on the game when Matthew Etherington got in behind Bernard Mendy to smash past Matt Duke in the Hull goal on 29 minutes.

That was the way it stayed until just after the hour mark when Seyi Olofinjana curled home from 25 yards to leave Thomas Sorensen with no chance.

Fulham stayed strong and held firm at Wigan to keep the Latics at bay and come away with a hard-earned point.

Roberto Martinez’s side opened the scoring on 13 minutes when central defender Emmerson Boyce found himself in space in the penalty area, controlled Paul Scharner’s knock-down and slotted the ball coolly past Mark Schwarzer.

The Latics were on top from thereon in and were unlucky not to add to their tally before the break – Schwarzer denied them on a number of occasions, most notably tipping a Charles N’Zogbia drive onto the crossbar.

But Fulham were awarded a penalty on the stroke of half time when Titus Bramble brought down Clint Dempsey with a clumsy challenge – the American stepped up and sent Chris Kirkland the wrong way from the spot.

Everton claimed their first league win in five attempts with a hard-fought 2-1 success at West Ham.

Louis Saha put the Toffees ahead in the 27th minute with a fantastic low effort into the corner from the edge of the box after being teed-up by Tim Cahill.

Dan Gosling then doubled the advantage on 64 minutes when slotting home from the rebound after Robert Green had saved his original effort.

But West Ham pulled a goal back a minute later when Tony Hibbert put the ball in his own net as he attempted to keep out Junior Stanislas’ goal-bound shot.

The defeat – coupled with Hull’s earlier victory over Stoke – dumps Gianfranco Zola’s side back in the drop zone.