When your FA Cup history is as barren as Hull's, any way will do and two of the scruffiest goals of the season sealed only their sixth appearance in the quarter-finals.
A late Leonardo Ulloa header for Brighton made the final outcome closer than it should have been after tame efforts from Curtis Davies and Robert Koren found their way in during the first half. They proved enough to book a last-eight meeting with Sunderland – the Hull manager Steve Bruce's former club, and opponents whom they have beaten twice in league meetings this season.
With both sides making multiple changes from their weekend activities – Hull edging it 6-5 – there was a slow-tempo opening to the contest and it was the Championship side who dominated early possession. However, Hull created the first semblance of a chance when Ahmed Elmohamady's centre from the right landed at the feet of Matt Fryatt on the edge of the six-yard box; a loss of balance proved costly and the Albion goalkeeper Peter Brezovan was able to gather comfortably.
Critically, he was unable to deal with the next nudge towards goal just shy of the quarter-hour: Davies met Koren's corner and looped a header that hung in the air, cleared the aerial mismatch between David Meyler and Jake Forster-Caskey and bobbled in off the base of a post.
The celebrations were almost apologetic and there was a similar response when Bruce's team doubled their advantage in the 36th minute. Hull were clinical in their finishing in inflicting a four-goal humiliation upon Cardiff 48 hours earlier, but no such conviction was necessary here.
Sone Aluko, who made his first start in four months in the original tie last week, won a cheap free-kick when he was bumped by Lewis Dunk on the edge of the area and having seen one previous dead-ball situation of his own blocked, passed on responsibility to Koren. The Hull captain's effort lacked power but a slight nick off the outstretched leg of Stephen Ward left Brezovan befuddled as the ball spun off a knee and over the line.
Brezovan's embarrassment at the hands of his fellow Slovenian appeared to have settled the result and there was no greater urgency from his outfield team-mates to claw back ground before the interval. Indeed they made only a dozen tackles in the opening 45 minutes as Hull hogged possession.
However, they came agonisingly close to halving the deficit just four minutes after the re-start when the centre-back Dunk produced the cleanest connection on a shot all evening to crash the ball off the crossbar with the Hull goalkeeper Steve Harper motionless.
It proved an isolated opportunity for Oscar García's team, though, and only a precision challenge from their captain Iñigo Calderón prevented another unlikely entrant to the scoresheet: Maynor Figueroa's angled drive following an overlap on the left deflected for a corner. Then, moments later, when they overloaded Brighton on the opposite flank, it took Ward's defensive instinct to snuff out Aluko in the process of shooting.
Yet with Ulloa in such rich scoring form, it took only one chance for the final quarter of the match to be reinvigorated. David López swung in a 69th-minute free-kick and a glancing header made it five goals in as many games for the Argentinian striker. But they did not test Harper again, leaving Hull just 90 minutes shy of a first cup visit to Wembley, venue of both the semi-finals and final. Reported by guardian.co.uk 14 hours ago.
A late Leonardo Ulloa header for Brighton made the final outcome closer than it should have been after tame efforts from Curtis Davies and Robert Koren found their way in during the first half. They proved enough to book a last-eight meeting with Sunderland – the Hull manager Steve Bruce's former club, and opponents whom they have beaten twice in league meetings this season.
With both sides making multiple changes from their weekend activities – Hull edging it 6-5 – there was a slow-tempo opening to the contest and it was the Championship side who dominated early possession. However, Hull created the first semblance of a chance when Ahmed Elmohamady's centre from the right landed at the feet of Matt Fryatt on the edge of the six-yard box; a loss of balance proved costly and the Albion goalkeeper Peter Brezovan was able to gather comfortably.
Critically, he was unable to deal with the next nudge towards goal just shy of the quarter-hour: Davies met Koren's corner and looped a header that hung in the air, cleared the aerial mismatch between David Meyler and Jake Forster-Caskey and bobbled in off the base of a post.
The celebrations were almost apologetic and there was a similar response when Bruce's team doubled their advantage in the 36th minute. Hull were clinical in their finishing in inflicting a four-goal humiliation upon Cardiff 48 hours earlier, but no such conviction was necessary here.
Sone Aluko, who made his first start in four months in the original tie last week, won a cheap free-kick when he was bumped by Lewis Dunk on the edge of the area and having seen one previous dead-ball situation of his own blocked, passed on responsibility to Koren. The Hull captain's effort lacked power but a slight nick off the outstretched leg of Stephen Ward left Brezovan befuddled as the ball spun off a knee and over the line.
Brezovan's embarrassment at the hands of his fellow Slovenian appeared to have settled the result and there was no greater urgency from his outfield team-mates to claw back ground before the interval. Indeed they made only a dozen tackles in the opening 45 minutes as Hull hogged possession.
However, they came agonisingly close to halving the deficit just four minutes after the re-start when the centre-back Dunk produced the cleanest connection on a shot all evening to crash the ball off the crossbar with the Hull goalkeeper Steve Harper motionless.
It proved an isolated opportunity for Oscar García's team, though, and only a precision challenge from their captain Iñigo Calderón prevented another unlikely entrant to the scoresheet: Maynor Figueroa's angled drive following an overlap on the left deflected for a corner. Then, moments later, when they overloaded Brighton on the opposite flank, it took Ward's defensive instinct to snuff out Aluko in the process of shooting.
Yet with Ulloa in such rich scoring form, it took only one chance for the final quarter of the match to be reinvigorated. David López swung in a 69th-minute free-kick and a glancing header made it five goals in as many games for the Argentinian striker. But they did not test Harper again, leaving Hull just 90 minutes shy of a first cup visit to Wembley, venue of both the semi-finals and final. Reported by guardian.co.uk 14 hours ago.