At 2:45 AM Beijing time, referee Oliver blew the whistle to start the match.
Just one minute into the game, Hull City's star player, Giovanni, unleashed a powerful shot from outside the box, which Pantilimon calmly gathered.
For this match, although Brown deployed his summer new signing and midfield core, Giovanni, he kept him on the field to ensure the team's smooth progression.
One minute later, Hull City came back with a vengeance! The 19-year-old rising star Edozie delivered a brilliant curving ball from the left side of the attacking third!
The ball obediently bypassed the central defenders Suxi and Lovren, landing directly at Fagan's feet!
Fagan dribbled into the box and, facing the goalkeeper's block, attempted to curl the ball into the far corner!
Saint Pantilimon descended once more, instinctively blocking it with his left hand!
The ball changed direction and flew out of bounds!
Fagan covered his head with both hands, unable to believe that this one-on-one chance hadn't gone in!
Only two minutes into the match, Hull City already had two shots, both on target.
Huang Hao knew that this match would likely be extremely difficult.
O'Connor was particularly excited today, tirelessly running and intercepting in the midfield.
Giovanni paused his dribble, and O'Connor seized the opportunity, sliding in to successfully poke the ball to Dzeko up front!
After dribbling past midfield, Dzeko cleverly passed to Tadić nearby, giving Tadić a one-on-one opportunity!
Tadić, who had furiously charged into the box, still shot the ball into the top-left corner of the goal with his left foot, despite interference from the covering Jones and Mali Pan!
Duke dared not be careless! He directly tipped the ball out for a corner!
The 6,100 spectators at Abbey Stadium naturally gave their most enthusiastic applause to this promising star of Cambridge United.
O'Connor then took the corner, and Mendy got to the first ball, heading it out.
Tadić, outside the box, immediately stopped the ball and passed it back to O'Connor on the byline! This time, O'Connor's cross just cleared Dawson and landed at the near post!
Dzeko was unmarked! He headed the ball from a standstill!
The ball hit the post and was cleared by Mali Pan with a big kick!
Another huge sigh echoed through Abbey Stadium, and even Huang Hao covered his forehead with his hand; he had lost count of how many times Dzeko had hit the post!
Perhaps, he should secretly enlarge the goal at Abbey a little???
Of course, Huang Hao could only think about this matter.
Cambridge United's two well-executed attacks made the experienced Brown sense a hint of danger; it seemed this promoted team indeed had some skills, and he should remind his players in midfield not to be too careless!
In the 15th minute, the exceptionally active young Edozie once again broke through to the left byline near the Cambridge United box and passed the ball to Giovanni in the penalty area!
Giovanni adjusted with his left foot, then pulled back and unleashed a powerful shot!
Saint Pantilimon leaped, once again denying the ball entry!!!
Giovanni looked at Pantilimon in disbelief; he found it hard to believe that such an excellent goalkeeper could be in an unknown team like this!
Livramento took a tactical corner, exchanged passes with Giovanni, and then lofted the ball back into the penalty area!
Windass easily controlled the ball, took a step to the right, and then fired another powerful shot!!!
Pantilimon was out of reach, and the ball went directly under his armpit into the net!
Hull City finally broke through Cambridge United's goal 16 minutes into the match!
After celebrating with everyone, Brown comfortably sat back in the dugout; the team had, after all, taken the lead as he had envisioned.
Hopefully, in the third round, the team will encounter a weaker opponent, Brown leaned his head back against the dugout seat, silently praying.
The conditions at Abbey Stadium were truly terrible; this seat was too hard!
Tadić felt a bit anxious.
Seeing Cambridge fall 0:1 behind Hull City, he wanted even more to equalize for Cambridge United as soon as possible with his own abilities.
After receiving a pass from a teammate on the right wing, Tadić took a deep breath, started! Accelerated!
Constantly changing his dribbling path left or right, Tadić carried the ball from midfield all the way to Hull City's penalty area!
At this moment, Mendy, Mali Pan, and Livramento were all positioned in front of him! But Tadić charged at the three without hesitation!
The ball was predictably dispossessed by Mendy and Mali Pan in a pincer movement.
Armstrong, up front, received Mendy's pass and immediately kicked it towards Cambridge United's attacking third!
Edozie instantly accelerated, successfully beating the offside trap!
So Edozie led the charge! Behind him, Sun Jihai and Lovren were desperately chasing back!
Facing the advancing Pantilimon, Edozie attempted to chip the ball into the top-right corner of the goal!
As a result, the ball flew out of bounds!
Huang Hao realized he seemed to have made a mistake.
Tadić and O'Connor indeed ignited an extremely strong desire to win in this match, but at the same time, this was also a double-edged sword!
Tadić's reckless play just now was the best proof.
Normally, Tadić would definitely pass the ball to Vardy, who was in a better position beside him, especially since he had already attracted three defenders.
However, Huang Hao would not substitute his players only 17 minutes into the match; it was a matter of respect and trust, and he wanted to give them more time.
At 22 minutes, Hull City continued their pressure.
Captain Giovanni received a pass on the left side of midfield, then sent an ultra-long pass directly to Windass at the right byline of the Cambridge United box.
Facing the incoming ball, Windass first raised his right foot high, hooking the ball directly in the air! Then, he smoothly pushed it forward, turned, and accelerated! All in one fluid motion!
Facing the double block from Bennett and Sun Jihai, Windass still managed to send the ball into Cambridge United's penalty area!
Edozie, from an almost zero-degree angle at the near post, still chose to shoot!
Although Pantilimon had covered the angle, he still couldn't hold the ball and could only punch it out forcefully!
At 24 minutes, after withstanding a wave of Hull City's attack, Cambridge United began to counterattack.
Sun Jihai once again passed the ball to Tadić on the right wing.
Garcia immediately slid in, intending to win the ball!
Just as Garcia had lowered his center of gravity and slid towards Tadić, Tadić kicked the ball away from his feet!
Garcia fouled!
The foul occurred over 40 meters from the box, so O'Connor quickly kicked the ball to Bennett up front; Bennett dribbled to the byline and, facing Mali Pan's defense, directly kicked the ball off his leg, earning a corner.
O'Connor was not in a hurry to take the corner, but instead carefully observed his teammates' positions in the box, and various passing routes appeared in his mind.
Having selected his route, O'Connor kicked the ball towards the far post, where Lovren was surprisingly being marked by Edozie!
This young forward clearly couldn't match the tall Lovren in an aerial duel.
So Lovren easily headed the ball in the air to Ayu, who was lurking near the penalty spot!
Andre Ayew didn't wait for the ball to land before winding up his left foot! He directly unleashed a side-volley shot!
The ball soared directly between Duke and Mendy, into the goal!!!
1:1! Cambridge United equalized the score in the 25th minute!
This time, Abbey Stadium was finally free of sighs; the long-suppressed Cambridge United fans celebrated this spectacular goal with thunderous cheers!
Brown's brows furrowed; scoring from a set piece inherently had a certain randomness, but Brown's sixth sense seemed to be telling him that this match was deviating from the planned trajectory; hopefully, it was just an illusion!
At this moment, Hull City launched another attack; Giovanni passed the ball to Edozie, who was receiving it up front; Edozie then made another precise long pass, directly transferring the ball to Shams on the right wing; Shams easily dribbled past Suxi and passed the ball back to Windass in the center! Windass met the ball with a powerful shot!
This shot was wildly off target, flying directly out of bounds!
Possession was returned to Cambridge United; Sun Jihai directly launched a long ball into the Hull City box, but Dawson accurately judged the landing spot and kicked the ball back to midfield!
Just then, Tadić once again burst out of the crowd! He jumped to intercept the ball, then immediately passed it to the onrushing Bennett!
Bennett met the ball with a long-range shot!
However, the ball directly hit defender Jones and deflected out of bounds! Cambridge United won another corner, with only 5 minutes remaining in the first half!
The corner was still taken by O'Connor.
This time, Brown was visibly nervous, quickly rising from the dugout and rushing to the sideline, shouting loudly at his defense to prevent any oversight from his players.
Giovanni stood next to Lovren; clearly, this attacking point was very important in Cambridge United's corner kick tactics.
O'Connor naturally observed this as well.
So, before taking the corner, O'Connor suddenly raised both arms simultaneously, and the Cambridge United players understood!
O'Connor's corner indeed went straight for Lovren, but the ball had a slight outward spin!
Dzeko, after the corner was taken, suddenly retreated from in front of the goal!
Jones, sensing something unusual, was about to follow, but Lovren suddenly appeared in front of him like a wall!
Just like a pick-and-roll in basketball, the unmarked Dzeko leaped high, and with a powerful header in the air, he slammed O'Connor's cross directly into the bottom-left corner of the goal!!!
2:1!!! Cambridge United took the lead!!!
Brown angrily kicked the grass outside the field! Then he sat back in the dugout!
Meanwhile, Huang Hao was happily grinning from ear to ear, giving O'Connor a big thumbs up!
With Ayu's long-range shot from outside the box flying over the crossbar, the first half ended, with Cambridge United surprisingly leading Hull City 2:1 at home.
Brown walked into the away team's changing room with a grim face, not saying a word.
In the changing room, apart from the occasional coughs from players trying to ease the awkwardness, no one dared to speak.
"You come from the Premier League, you are Hull City's best players."
"But now, you are trailing a promoted team from the EFL Championship."
"Their players even include former Hull City players who didn't get their contract renewed by us!"
After a long silence, Brown's words, though not aggressive in tone, deeply stimulated the players' hearts.
"I hope the score won't be like this at the end of the match."
In the home team's changing room, Cambridge United's players were high-fiving and encouraging each other; Huang Hao smiled as he watched the players, also not in a hurry to speak.
"I know you all trained in the youth academies of these Premier League teams, but your former clubs gave up on you, and it's precisely because of this that Cambridge United had the chance to get you."
"So, don't get overly excited just because you're playing a Premier League team, trying to prove you're no worse than Premier League players; if everyone does that, what about Pantilimon?"
"Boss, maybe you can consider me for penalties."
Pantilimon's serious reply instantly drew laughter from the players.
"So, play your role well. When Cambridge United one day becomes a giant like Manchester United or Liverpool, and you are still in the squad, I believe that will be your best proof."
After Huang Hao finished speaking, the players secretly clenched their fists, filled with strength.
"Alright! Good performance in the first half! But a match is 90 minutes; if you relax in the second half, you will pay a heavy price!"
"Hull City is a very interesting team; they are very good at fouling, you should learn from them!"
After speaking, Huang Hao revealed a mischievous smile.
Hull City ranked among the top three in the Premier League for fouls committed, but their average yellow cards per game was only two.
So Huang Hao really wanted his players to learn from Hull City's players how to make opponents uncomfortable without incurring non-combat casualties.
Like many mid-to-lower table League teams, Hull City was also a team good at defending. Such teams would struggle when facing a losing position.
The second half had just begun when Windass received a pass from Giovanni and took another long-range shot from the penalty area, which Pantilimon calmly gathered.
Without more effective scoring methods, long-range shots seemed to become Hull City's preferred option.
Hull City's players were also experiencing their opponents' frustrations firsthand on the field for the first time. Currently, Cambridge United players were constantly using minor fouls and tricks to disrupt their attacks.
So fouling was this annoying!
Brown's brows were tightly furrowed; Cambridge United was currently using a tactic he was very familiar with to firmly trap Hull City.
The players, already trailing, became even more agitated under the harassment of Cambridge United's players!
Huang Hao's goal was achieved; apart from long-range shots, Hull City seemed unable to find other attacking methods, and even their long-range shots were gradually losing accuracy.
At 52 minutes, Cambridge United won another corner. O'Connor, after seeing his teammates' positions, retreated two steps.
The corner was taken!
This kick seemed wildly off, flying out of the penalty area...
A tactical corner?! Brown suddenly saw Bennett quickly running towards the ball! He cried out in alarm!
Wayne sensed danger and immediately rushed out, but Bennett, after getting the ball, immediately changed direction to the front right!
Dribbling forward, Bennett suddenly shot the ball towards the left side of the goal!!!
Duke, who had already started moving to the right with Bennett, couldn't touch the ball despite trying his best!
3:1!!! Cambridge United scored again!!!
Abbey Stadium instantly erupted, turning into a sea of joy! Meanwhile, the Hull City fans behind Cambridge United's goal silently sat in the stands, their eyes filled with disappointment.
Cambridge United, despite being on the back foot throughout the match, created three goals from three corner kick opportunities!
O'Connor completed a hat-trick of assists using corner kicks!
Hull City, who had been unable to score, was now hit with another goal by Cambridge United, doubling the blow to their morale.
At 75 minutes, the young Edozie once again broke through Cambridge United's defense and successfully entered the box!
Sun Jihai stuck to him like a plaster, always maintaining a distance of about 20 centimeters. Seeing the shooting angle getting smaller and smaller, Edozie gritted his teeth and shot the ball directly into the top-left corner of the goal with his left foot!
Pantilimon, who had completely covered the angle, naturally wouldn't let him succeed and directly punched the ball out with both fists!
Brown shook his head, looked at Sekou Mani on the bench, and signaled him to start warming up, preparing to come on. Pantilimon took a goal kick, passing it to Suxi on the right.
Giovanni slowly ran towards Suxi; Suxi was not in a hurry, and when Giovanni was less than a meter away, he suddenly flicked his calf, passing the ball to Ayu up front!
Giovanni did not continue to chase back, after all, he was a right winger, and there was still a right-back to cover.
What Giovanni didn't expect was that the right-back, Dawson, was still several meters away from Ayu!
Ayu, seeing no one pressing him, calmly dribbled the ball past midfield; Vardy was now on the same line as Hull City's defenders!
He lifted his foot, passed!
At the moment of the pass, Vardy quickly ran past the Hull City defender! One-on-one!!!
Vardy, who had run into the box, gently hooked the ball with his toe, and the ball obediently landed at his feet!
Facing Duke, Vardy calmly pushed the ball into the far corner, and the ball once again slipped through Duke's hands!
4:1!!! Cambridge United scored again! Brown signaled Mani, who was preparing to come on, to sit back down; clearly, his appearance had lost its meaning.
Hull City's League Cup journey this season thus ended in the second round.