All good things must come to an end, and so it was with Hull City's 'perfect' start to the new football season, when they visited Fleetwood Town last night, and normal service was resumed, after the Tigers were both battered and trounced in a humbling 4-1 reverse.
City ended last season bottom of the Championship, after winning only one game out of their last 20, but four straight league wins, plus an EFL Cup victory over Leeds, had given supporters hope that good times might be just around the corner.
The Tigers travelled to out-of-the-way Fleetwood for the two teams' first-ever meeting on Friday night, and arrived on the desolate Lancashire coastline in good spirits.
This didn't last long, however.
Fleetwood, made up mainly of fishermen and spinners from the local textile mill, were soon in control, and rendered the Tigers toothless and in tatters.
City manager Grant McCann was apologetic afterwards. He said:
"Whatever I usually say after a humiliating defeat, is what I'm going to say again."
Tigers fans watching the game on the telly weren't happy. One said:
"There's a tenner slung down the toilet!"
Another diehard supporter, a veteran of almost 50 years of watching City, said:
"Normal service has been resumed!"
