The John Smith column: North End “Are Go” in first half, but Tigers roar back to earn a point
Our Tuesday night trip to Hull coincided with Thunderbirds Day which was celebrating the 60th anniversary of the first broadcast of the classic series on UK television.
It was certainly a case of "Thunderbirds Are Go " for North End when they hit the home side with two quick-fire goals inside the opening 10 minutes in their mission of trying to bring three points back to base from the MKM Stadium.
Before the game started, I knew that the Tigers had the leakiest defence in the division so far this season so after this early two-goal salvo, my thoughts wandered to when was the last time we scored five goals in an away league match – such was our early domination.
These euphoric thoughts proved to be a tad over optimistic as although we continued to attack with purpose we could not manage to add to our tally.
As we approached the interval our loyal travelling fans were still in fine voice having silenced the larger number of home fans who only awoke from their slumber to boo their team off when the referee blew his whistle for half-time.
At this point, I thought Hull who had not had a single shot on target were a poor side who were definitely there for the taking.
Unfortunately though, the words in the title of singer Lenny Kravitz song "It Ain't Over Till Its Over” rang true as the Tigers recovered from their first half mauling and clawed their way back into the match.
The course of the game changed after the home side made a triple substitution during the half-time break.
The change paid them an early dividend when they managed to half the deficit just three minutes after the restart with a close range finish from their first effort on target.
The goal lifted the crowd and we suddenly found ourselves having to fight a rearguard action with the stadium now a cauldron of noise as the Tigers fans smelled blood.
After a period of pressure we managed to settle down and had a couple of chances to restore our two-goal advantage before the home side equalised.
I was aggrieved when Jordan Storey was pushed to the ground right in front of the referee but amazingly he denied us a penalty and waved play on which gave the home side a chance to counter and grab what would have been an undeserved winner.
On my way home as our mission was only half completed, I did not feel as F.A.B as one of the Thunderbirds crew returning to Tracy Island.
But once I had got over my initial disappointment of seeing us blow a two-goal lead – and a chance to climb up to second in the league table – I took comfort from the fact that it was a point gained and it kept us in the mix at the top end of the table.