The Championship season is well and truly back
A committed, battling display from Hull City earned the Tigers a deserved draw at Coventry City on Saturday as attention finally turned to matters on the field.
After yet another summer of change and chaos off the pitch, Sergej Jakirovic’s team produced an encouraging display to keep one of the Championship’s promotion favourites at bay and get off the mark with a point.
Jakirovic named a flurry of new signings in his squad, with Semi Ajayi and Joel Ndala starting, while Oliver McBurnie and Joe Gelhardt came off the bench in the second period. There was also a long-awaited senior debut for Nathan Tinsdale.
It’s also expected City will add to their squad early next week, with David Akintola and Brandon Williams set to seal their permanent moves to the MKM Stadium as the transfer business continues.
Here, Hull Live takes a look back at a fascinating opening day in the Midlands’ sunshine….
A solid start
There are fewer tougher assignments in the Championship at the best of times these days, than going to play Coventry City in front of a big home crowd.
Gone are the days when the Sky Blues were playing in a half-empty stadium with a pitch that resembled a potato field. The current incarnation are an attractive, positive and well-organised side. They’ve also been together and stable for a period of time under a manager who knows the league.
City are coming out of another turbulent period which has seen a change in manager and another massive turnover of players over the course of the summer, so both clubs, and teams, are at very different stages. Coventry’s fluidity in the top third of the pitch is something the Tigers would like to get to but they are nowhere near that level yet, so to come away with a point and a clean sheet is hugely positive.
If we’re all honest with ourselves, given the context around the game and everything that’s happened over the past few months, had we been offered a point pre-match, we’d have taken it.
Defensive resolve
This was always going to be a stern test of City’s defensive resolve, and it proved just that. Ephron Mason-Clark, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Jack Rudoni, Jay Dasilva, et al are all top players at this level and they caused problems with their movement, their one-touch play and so on, but they stood up to the task.
The back four were exceptional from Cody Drameh through Semi Ajayi and Charlie Hughes out to Ryan Giles. The fact Ivor Pandur did not have a testing save to make is testament to that work, discipline and organisational structure.
Coventry’s best chance came from a speculative drive from outside the box, which crashed off the woodwork, and that can happen against anyone anywhere. This was a really encouraging start and a solid foundation to build on moving forward.
Bring the creativity
It’s no secret that this side have lacked creativity. There was very little last season and over the summer, there hasn’t been a huge amount of it.
Giles’ marauding runs have been an added bonus, and there were some really nice passages of play that did open up Coventry. One in the first half springs to mind when John Lundstram, Abu Kamara and Matt Crooks combined to set Regan Slater through one-on-one with Carl Rushworth, but he mistimed his run and was offside.
There were other promising moments they didn’t make the most of, and that will have been frustrating for the manager because the Sky Blues’ defence wasn’t convincing, and with a little more ingenuity, they could have had some success.
It’s vital the Tigers get McBurnie and Joe Gelhardt up to speed quickly, and in turn, David Akintola. Joel Ndala looked bright and showed some promising moments, so hopefully he’ll get better, but there does need to be an improvement in that part of the pitch.
Oli’s back
The striker’s reception from the 1,700 or so away fans was really nice, as it was for Joe Gelhardt. Getting him some minutes was absolutely crucial and will stand him in good stead.
It was comical, however, that in the week during his media commitments, he opted to speak about going out to Spain and maturing as a person.
Fast-forward to the final couple of moments, and he couldn’t resist charging in to get involved with Rushworth and send him to the floor after Crooks had clattered the ex-City stopper. All three were booked for that.
It’s good to have you back in England, Oli and City certainly have that bit of needle and devilment they’ve probably lacked in recent seasons.
The magic of the Cup?
In recent years, the two cup competitions have been a complete waste of time, effort and money for City supporters. Well, here we are again.
On Tuesday night, the Tigers have another chance to give their supporters some cup cheer and, in turn, boost the bank balance when they take on Wrexham in North Wales.
Much has been made of Wrexham’s rise up the leagues, helped by their Hollywood influence and to be honest, it’s fantastic for the town and that area. To see a struggling club languishing in the National League come to life is fantastic, and on Tuesday night, the Tigers will be part of their story with it being their first home game of their Championship return, but for the Tigers, this contest is actually really important.
Jakirovic will make changes, but he’ll be desperate to see his side record a victory and really kick their campaign off in style ahead of that first home outing next Sunday.
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