Let’s get the bad taste out of our mouth straight away. Phil Brown is the kind of character that really rankles me, and when he comes out with garbage as he did last night that rankling turns into a real malevolence.

Zayatte jumping into a takle on Walcott,

What irritates me even further is the amount of scribes prepared to support his cause simply because his team is perceived as the quintessential little guy standing up to the big boys. When hacks can write things like

Arsenal reach FA Cup semi-finals on night of shame at Emirates.

Gallas’s winner late on trampled on the best traditions of the Cup, the best chances fell to the visitors.

The FA must today order an investigation into a night that shamed football.

Then you realise how warped their sense of justice is. Never mind that after our poor start to the game we pummelled Hull for 65 minutes, never mind that we had 17 shots on goal compared to Hull’s 3, never mind that Arsenal had 68.3% possession, or Hull committed 19 fouls against us, or that Hull was booked 6 times, or they started time wasting with 75 minutes left. No Arsenal didn’t deserve to win because they are arrogant and Wenger didn’t have the good grace to seek out Brown for a handshake.

As Sam Wallace puts it Nowhere else but English football could one manager accuse another of cheating and then complain when he does not shake his hand.

The contentious goal was just that — contentious — the assistant referee does not have the convenience of replays from 6 different angles to aid his decision. It had to be made in a split second just like the lunge from Zayatte on Walcott was missed or the other countless fouls were missed, even a handball against van Persie was missed within 6 yards of the ref.

While I think that the goal was offsides, I don’t see how Hull can feel they deserved to get points from a game where they were clearly outplayed.

Nearly every day you hear our supporters accused of being quiet, poor supporters, booing our own team. God forbid the one time we decide to be vociferous in support of our men, that support suddenly is construed as “influencing the referee”. Well it’s about time the players got that kind of support, anywhere else it would be praised as the power of the 12th man.

We deserved this win, no doubt we started poorly and Hull’s goals was due to that poor start, but once we started to click I was in no doubt that we would win. It took a while but the constant pressure on Hull eventually paid off, and kudos to Bendtner for not giving up where he would have 2 months ago.

I must say I wasn’t to impressed with Diaby, constantly holding onto the ball too long, it was quite a surprise to see Song subbed off instead of Vasiriki. The substitute did turn the game though, Bendtner was much stronger than Vela, while the Mexican is skilful Hulls tactics needed a sledgehammer to counter and Bendnter was just the tool for the job.

So on to the new Wembley for the first time, I can’t wait to see how we match up with Hiddink’s Chelsea. Much has been made of the dutchman’s influence on Chelsea, we will be the first “big 4″ team Hiddink faces, a trial for both teams.

On a final note Big Sam “toad-face” Allardyce has said something that I totally agree with. One the question of Morten Gamst Pederson’s antics he said:

He is one of many Premier League players who are guilty of diving, but the bottom line is simple enough. Until Keith Hackett decides that fouls should still be given for players who manage to stay on their feet, then people will always cheat.

I would rather he did not do it at all and there can be no doubt it should have been a straightforward yellow card. But what about players who are dishing out fouls all the time? I would like to see them being punished, not least because it would mean those on the receiving end would not need to resort to diving.

It just strikes me at the moment that when a player stays on his feet, a referee thinks: “That can’t have been a foul, because he’s still standing. It doesn’t look like a foul to me, so I won’t give it”.

That’s where the frustration creeps in. Players feel they are being denied what is due them and start wondering if there is any point trying to stay on their feet.

They inevitably reach the conclusion that, next time there is any contact, they might as well go down. Even if the contact is slighter than before, the inclination is to hit the deck and see what happens.

Not the condemnation of MGP that we would have loved but I agree with his sentiments. Do you?