Jimmy Bullard missed this match with a knock. By God I wish I had. There was a rumour going round before kick-off that Hull’s ebullient midfielder had apologised via Twitter for being late, which sounds a Bullard-esque thing to do. Rather disappointingly it turned out to be the American teenager, Jozy Altidore, who was supposed to have been among the substitutes, who had tweeted his excuses. Not such a good story, though he certainly had the right idea.

The hardest thing here, even harder than staying awake for 90 minutes, was working out what happened to two teams who have both been splendid, against-the-odds success stories within the last couple of seasons.

Now Hull are about as threatening and full of surprises as Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, and he is chiefly useful these days for helping match reporters fill their quota of words. Or he would be, if he ever did anything worth reporting.

Portsmouth have changed so much David James must feel like an adult guesting as a ringer in a junior game. Actually, as his son has just been taken on as a Portsmouth apprentice, that could be exactly how he feels.

James made a well-timed interception in the 56th minute to whip the ball cleanly from Geovanni’s feet, and Hull did not get a penalty either when the ball struck Marc Wilson on the arm in the area. Bo Myhill was comfortably Hull’s man of the match – there were no other candidates, for a start – for two second-half stops in quick succession from Aruna Dindane and Hassan Yebda that allowed the home side to keep a clean sheet and claim a point.

Brown said beforehand a point would not necessarily be a bad outcome, though there were boos from the home fans at the final whistle. Two dead men walking? Two dead teams more like.

Premier LeagueHull CityPortsmouthPaul Wilsonguardian.co.uk