BURNLEY RIPS HULL IN FIGHT FOR PREMIERSHIP SURVIVAL

While Manchester United, Chelsea and the other teams at the top of the English Premier League are competing for the championship, the teams at the bottom of the table are fighting for survival.  The bottom three teams will be relegated to the Football Championship league, and with lowly Portsmouth already tabbed for demotion two more teams are trying to avoid the same fate.  On Saturday, Burnley kept their hopes to avoid relegation alive with a 4-1 away rout of fellow cellar dwellers Hull City.
 
Soccer betting fans who took Burnley to win their first away game of the season received a generous +400 payback.  Hull had been installed as a -135 home favorite, with the draw priced at +260.  The 5 goals scored went sailing over the posted total of 2’.  The victory was a shocking reversal of Burnley’s road form this season—they’d entered the game with only 1 draw against 15 defeats in 16 away games.

Burnley and Hull are still in the relegation zone, tied for 18th and 19th place with 27 points.  They’re 4 points back of the teams tied for 16th and 17th, Wigan and West Ham United.  They’re five points behind 15th place Bolton and six back of 14th place Wolverhampton.  Everyone else in the bottom half of the table is effectively safe from relegation barring a historic collapse and an unprecedented winning streak by the teams below them.

At the start of the contest, things looked very good for the home side as Hull’s Kevin Kilbane scored just three minutes in to give his team an early 1-0 advantage.  Martin Patterson would strike for the visitors at the 35 minute mark, sending the teams off for the halftime break deadlocked at 1-1.  It was all Burnley in the second half, with Graham Alexander scoring two goals on penalty kicks at 64 and 70 minutes.  Wade Elliot would cap the scoring in stoppage time to produce the final 4-1 margin of victory.

Hull manager Iain Downey was devastated by the outcome:

"The manner of the defeat is the galling part of it. It makes you sick to the pit of your stomach, because I thought the game started well. It's about heart and desire and we had one player, George Boateng, who played with that today - I thought he was outstanding.It (the loss) makes it hugely more difficult. It was one of the four games at home we planned on getting some points from. We haven't done that, so now we've got to go with our away record to Birmingham. We've got to respond in the way Burnley have done.''

Burnley boss Brian Laws was subdued in victory, realizing there is still work to be done:

"We'll certainly wake a few people up with that result, that's for sure. The most satisfying thing for me is that the players have proven they can win away from home. We've got to build on that.''

Hull will play at Birmingham this Wednesday and return home next Saturday to face Aston Villa.  Burnley will play at Sunderland next Saturday before a big game against slumping Liverpool on their home field.