Banana touted as potential banana skin
Friday 27 January 2012 14:39
Back of the Net's John Foster on the potential Tigers-taming tasty comestible
A banana, Hull City’s opponents in the FA Cup Fourth Round, is being touted in various quarters as a potential banana skin.
The banana progressed to the fourth round following a surprise 2-1 win over Brentford – and ever since the draw pitted them against the Tigers, pundits have been queueing up to speculate that they might repeat the trick at the KC Stadium.
"It’s easy to see Hull slipping up," warned ex-Chelsea coach Ray Wilkins, who has been spotted talking tactics with the banana.
"Many teams get overconfident when they’re facing a side from a lower division, especially when that side is an inanimate piece of fruit.
"The most important thing of all for Hull, though," Wilkins added, "is that they stay on their feet."
Hull boss Nick Barmby was keen to stress his awareness of the threat posed by his opponents.
"We’re well aware of what [the banana] can do," he told FourFourTwo. "We had it watched in the last round, when it really got in Brentford’s faces, and last weekend, in Waitrose, when it sat deep in a shelf full of other bananas, rebuffing any advances with its prohibitive price tag.
"We’ve definitely got the advantage in terms of height and mobility, and so long as we don’t choke, I think [the banana] is there for the taking."
Defeat to the banana would mark yet another embarrassing failure for Hull against nominally inferior opposition. The Championship side were famously left with egg on their faces after their clash with a chicken in 2010, while in 2008 a young side was embarrassed by a saucy postcard.
Elsewhere in the fourth round, Swindon Town, a side made up entirely of players called David armed with slingshots, are being widely tipped as potential giantkillers.
Previous stories:
Nobody able to explain why Tony Hibbert is in Gabon
Spurs target found to be carefully-arranged pile of shoeboxes
O'Neill creates "stunning" rogan josh from contents of Bruce's pantry