Hull City 0-2 Birmingham City: Delayed start does little to help the Tigers

This fixture was pushed back 24 hours because the Hull Fair, one of Europe’s largest, was being held in the streets around the MKM Stadium until Saturday night.

Hull City’s season is resembling a carnival of merriment as well – and not in a fun way.

Currently managerless and with the search for Shota Arveladze’s replacement taking longer than expected, Hull have now lost seven of their last eight and sit precariously perched above the drop zone like a coconut on a shy.

Troy Deeney’s goal set Birmingham on the path to victory away at Hull to consign the hosts to further misery

Turkish owner Acun Ilicali continues to move from target to target, with the appointment of three-time Greek league winner Pedro Martins collapsing last week. His team, meanwhile, continue to sink ever lower.

Birmingham’s first goal here came from a silly penalty conceded by captain Jacob Greaves off the ball at a corner, the resulting spot-kick thumped home in characteristic fashion by Troy Deeney.

A thunderbolt by Juninho Bacuna following some loose defending sealed their fate early in the second-half and even though Deeney would send a second penalty into orbit, the win propelled Birmingham into the comforts of mid-table.

Hull continue to sink to lowly depths as they fell to yet another defeat – their seventh in eight games

This is Blues’ best run of the season, with four victories from seven, and it may just be possible that their recent troubles are behind them now John Eustace is in charge.

Birmingham had lost their seven previous visits to Humberside dating back to 2009 but were certainly good value for this result.

You have to admire Deeney. At 34, you’d forgive him for reaching for the carpet slippers and focusing on his tabloid column and a bit of radio punditry.

Not a bit of it. He’s started 12 of Birmingham’s league games this season and featured at some stage in all of them. He captains his beloved Blues with pride and as the club anthem goes, he’ll keep right on.

There was a 20-minute delay to kick-off after it was discovered the goal at one end was too big. Groundstaff had to uproot the goal frame and saw two inches off the bottom to meet regulations.

Kick-off in Hull’s clash with Birmingham was delayed as the goals were two inches too large 

This is becoming a common theme in the Championship – last Saturday’s fixture between Wigan and Cardiff was played despite it being discovered one of the crossbars was two inches too high.

Once we got underway, it was Hull who made the brighter start as they sought to arrest their recent poor run of form.

A cute flick by Dimitrios Pelkas set Greg Docherty away on the right and he drove infield before rippling the side-netting, with plenty of home fans fooled into thinking he’d scored.

The posts had to be taken down by ground staff which suspended the start of the fixture 

Hull now sit precariously above the drop with uncertainty surrounding every vestige of the club

Match facts 

 Hull City (4-2-3-1): Baxter; Christie, Jones, Figueiredo, Greaves (c) (Williams 56); Seri (Woods 82), Tufan (Longman 83); Docherty, Pelkas (Simons 82), Sinik (Jarvis 63); Estupinan

Substitutes not used: Ingram (GK); McLoughlin

Interim Manager: Andy Dawson

Booked: Greaves, Sinik, Williams, Baxter

Birmingham City (3-5-2): Ruddy; Mejbri (Hall 86), Dean, Trusty; Colin, Bacuna (Graham 78), Bielik (James 90+3), Deeney (c) (Jutkiewicz 78), Emmanuel; Chong (Bellingham 77), Hogan

Substitutes not used: Etheridge (GK); Leko

Manager: John Eustace

Scorers: Deeney pen 14; Bacuna 47

Missed penalty: Deeney 74

Booked: Colin, Bielik, Bacuna

Referee: Leigh Doughty

Attendance: 16,587

 

 

But Hull have a habit of shooting themselves in the foot this season and it happened once more as they conceded a penalty from a corner.

Greaves pulled back Krystian Bielik as Tahith Chong’s delivery came towards them and referee Leigh Doughty was in no doubt.

Few strikers get as much power on a spot-kick as Deeney and there was no doubt as to the outcome as he leathered the ball past Nathan Baxter.

Some of Hull’s play was very neat and tidy, with Ozan Tufan enjoying a cross-field pass and Jean Michael Seri looking a cut above in midfield.

A Pelkas corner was met by Cyrus Christie’s glancing header at the near post, forcing John Ruddy into a reaction save. Hull’s top scorer Oscar Estupinan was inches away from turning home the rebound.

Birmingham carried a decent threat on the counter, often helped out by a stray Hull pass. From once such give-away, Bacuna forced a low stop from Baxter.

The Tigers ended the first-half the stronger, with Christie weaving to the edge of the Blues box and chipping a shot wide, before Seri saw an effort deflected wide.

There were boos from the home support as the half-time whistle went, aimed more towards the referee for the penalty decision than the Hull players.

Their mood would get worse immediately after the restart when Bacuna was left completely unmarked wide on the right and was picked out by Chong’s smart cross-field pass.

With Hull players tracking back, there was still plenty for the Curacao international to do but Bacuna controlled perfectly and unleashed an unstoppable 25-yard rocket past Baxter.

Confidence was now coursing through those in blue and Bielik skimmed the outside of the post with an attempt from the edge of the area.

They forced a succession of corners with the crosses of Man United loanee Hannibal Mejbri causing consternation in the Hull defence.

The club’s move for Pedro Martins (R) collapsed last week after a series of discussions 

Birmingham’s victory takes them up to 12th and closer to the top half and crucially the play off places

It got even worse when Chong was played into the clear and was clipped by Baxter after nudging the ball around him.

This time, Deeney got the usual power but cleared the crossbar by some distance to howls of mockery from the locals.

But they were soon departing their seats early, Hull’s chances of mounting a comeback slim. If only the fair was still on next door to cheer them up.

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