Hull City 3 West Ham United 3

The Premier League game between Hull City and West Ham United at the KC Stadium on Saturday Nov 21, 2009.

Jimmy Bullard emerged as the hero of the hour for Hull City at the KC Stadium but even his emotional contribution could not inspire a much needed victory for the home side.

Bullard scored from the spot against West Ham United as Hull retrieved a two goal deficit only to settle for a share of the spoils when Bernard Mendy was sent off for a professional foul eight minutes after half-time.

It was in January this year that Bullard made his ill-fated debut for Hull, away at West Ham, and suffered the long term injury that saw him sidelined for several months following his £5miillion move north from Fulham.

However, his second home game could not have begun in a more disastrous fashion as the Londoners secured a comfortable cushion within 11 minutes thanks largely to some pitiful Hull defending.

Guillermo Franco headed their first from a Junior Stanislas corner, a tame header arriving from inside the six yard box. It got worse for under-pressure Hull manager Phil Brown when Jack Collison met Franco's cross and the ball somehow looped over a stranded Matt Duke.

Bullard, though, began the recovery in the 27th minute when his free kick bounced through the defensive wall before Carlton Cole deflected it over his own goalkeeper Robert Green for 2-1. If Hull's defending was poor, West Ham proved they could do anything just as lamentably when Stephen Hunt's deep free kick from the right reached Kamil Zayatte who gleefully volleyed the equaliser from close range and totally unmarked.

A minute later, in time added on during the first half, Julien Flaubert's clumsy push on Craig Fagan elicited a penalty which Bullard smashed beyond Green with Hull in command.

But when Scott Parker pierced the hub of the Hull back four, the covering Mendy timed his tackle badly and referee Mark Clattenburg had little option other than to show him a red card.

Hull might have hung on but more careless defending from a corner allowed Manuel da Costa to sweep the loose ball past Duke and salvage a point apiece that neither side really wanted in this relegation contest.