On December 29 2018, Jarrod Bowen had one of his most memorable games in a Hull City shirt.
Bowen had been with the Tigers for four years at that point, having been scooped up from non-league outfit Hereford Town when they went bust.
Bowen had established himself as a top class Championship operator and was regularly linked with a move to the Premier League to Spurs that never materialised.
Heading into that match at Elland Road, where Bowen’s latest employers West Ham visit later this week, Leeds were flying at the top of the Championship and were unbeaten in their previous seven games.
Hull meanwhile were bobbing along in mid-table, not really in danger of going down under Nigel Adkins but were threatening an assault on the Championship play-off spots that year. They had won three games on the spin and were starting to hit stride.
Bowen had bagged eight goals for the campaign at that point and was reportedly on Leeds’ radar as they plotted a title assault and promotion back to the Premier League, something they would ultimately fail to do until the following season.
Perhaps knowing they were keeping a close eye on him, Bowen put in a star turn for Hull on that cold December afternoon, scoring twice to condemn Marcelo Bielsa’s side to just their fourth defeat in the 25 games they had played up to that point.
The winger, playing off the right flank like he does with the Hammers, netted the first goal in the 25th minute when he pounced on some poor defending to lash home from inside the box.
His second goal was also somewhat opportunistic as he was quickest to react to a rebound off goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell to tap home 13 minutes into the second half to put Bielsa’s side to the sword.
The brace of goals was Bowen’s fifth and sixth of that month and that tally earned him the SkyBet player of the month award for December, while Adkins scooped the manager of the month trophy as well.
Bowen said of receiving the award, as he hit one of his purplest patches of his career: "We won every game with the exception of the draw at Millwall and it's a run that has pushed us right up the table.
“Everybody has been playing well and there are many of my team-mates that could have been picking up this award as well.
"We've got some big games coming up this month now and we'll keep working hard and looking to improve."
Bowen goes back to Elland Road for the second time since that game this weekend (Hull lost 2-0 on the winger’s last visit to Yorkshire) with his Hammers side in a decent spot in the Premier League but smarting after being beaten 3-1 by Manchester United last time out.
Bowen is West Ham’s top scorer in the league this season with four goals as the Hammers sit in eighth place after 11 games of the 2020/21 campaign, a much better return than many expected them to have at this stage of the season.
The 23-year-old has been a key part of Moyes’ revolution since joining the Hammers from the Tigers for £24million in January and will be aiming to torment Bielsa once again with his new employers on Friday.
