Blackburn goalkeeper Paul Robinson advanced his case for a place in England’s World Cup squad with a competent performance, but otherwise there were precious few positive conclusions to be drawn from a match in which for too long the priority for both teams appeared to be not to lose.

Hull began dangerously sluggishly, giving the ball away twice during a Blackburn break which ended with Benni McCarthy volleying past Hull goalkeeper Boaz Myhill, but not, fortunately for Hull, before straying into an offside position. The best early chance, however, fell to the home team, George Boateng’s curving through ball putting Craig Fagan clear. The centre-forward attempted to sidefoot his shot past Robinson, but the Yorkshireman saved well to his left.

For a few minutes after that, Hull played at close to the tempo which gives them their best chance of picking up points. Geovanni, having struck a free-kick into the wall, volleyed the rebound straight into Robinson’s hands, but with only Fagan up front, the ball rarely found its way into Blackburn’s penalty area. With Christopher Samba and Ryan Nelsen under little pressure, Blackburn looked comfortable until a Samba slip gave Fagan a chance to find Stephen Hunt in space on the left side of the area. His shot lacked conviction, however, and Robinson was again able to save to his left.

With McCarthy – who looked remarkably out of condition – increasingly dropping off Franco Di Santo, both teams were taking too long to build their attacks. Boateng’s drive brought another straightforward save from Robinson, and Richard Garcia, having created space on his left foot, should have done better than side-foot a weak effort that Robinson dropped on easily.

The best of the later chances fell to Blackburn, and in particular to substitute Nikola Kalanic. In the space of five minutes the Croatian put a left-foot shot into the side-netting, failed to beat Myhill from close range and, from inside the six-yard box, contrived to steer a right-footed shot beyond Myhill’s right post. Hull thought they should have had a penalty when Samba clumsily tripped Jozy Altidore, only for referee Chris Foy to award a free-kick the other way.

A second Hull substitute, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, headed wide as Hull finally began to press for a winner. It never really looked likely to come, though, and with five of their next six opponents being Arsenal, Manchester United (twice), Chelsea and Spurs, they may come to regret their early caution.

Premier LeagueHull CityBlackburn RoversRichard Raeguardian.co.uk