The Tigers won a Championship classic in the Second City thanks to an own goal, and one each from Regan Slater and Joe Gelhardt
Barry is the Hull City correspondent, and previously covered Nottingham Forest for the Nottingham Post/Nottinghamshire Live. Barry has reported on Hull City’s League One title success and Championship campaigns
For the first time in more than a year, Hull City claimed successive Championship wins after coming through a breathless game at Birmingham City.
After 47 games, City ended that poor run and backed up their victory over Sheffield United with a 3-2 success at St Andrew’s, which ended the host’s 29-game unbeaten run on home soil.
In truth, the scoreline only tells part of a story that takes some telling given the level of drama from start to finish, and even beyond the finalw whistle, but ultimately, all that really matters is that the Tigers claimed a first away success of the season and move to within two points of the top six ahead of Tuesday night’s showdown with Leicester City.
What a contest
City are nothing if not entertaining. And this game summed up the start to the season for the Tigers. As a spectacle, you couldn’t take your eyes off it for a minute and it was box office.
Chances, missed chances, a red card, brawls, penalty shouts, challenges, incredible refereeing decisions, and so much more. It was a captivating contest and it’s just a relief the Tigers came out of it with three points in their back pocket.
They did ride their luck. Charlie Hughes could have given away a first half penalty, and Matt Crooks should have been sent off in the second when the referee somehow booked John Egan, but you take those and move on.
At long, long last
At the 48th time of asking, City finally claimed a second win in a row. Having achieved that success, it feels like we can finally move on from last season’s troubles.
It wasn’t pretty, and for long periods in the game, especially in the first half, the Tigers lacked any control and were under heavy pressure, but when you’re away from home, without a win on the road and against a side that had gone 29 games unbeaten in their own backyard, you take any victory.
City have given themselves a platform now to go on and string some results together. They’ve shown some consistency now in the past three games, and now the challenge is to keep that going.
Listen to Regan Slater talking exclusively to Hull Live at St Andrew’s right here
More to come from this
The fallout from this game will be felt for a little while. Blues’ rather swift investigation has seen them cast doubt upon Sergej Jakirovic’s comments about him being told to make a return to Croatia.
Both clubs will face a charge from the FA for the pre-interval brawl, which saw a flurry of cards dished out to both sides, including former Tigers star Tom Huddlestone.
Blues will be in particular hot water given this is not their first indiscretion recently, and Davies can probably count himself fortunate after charging towards the City’s technical area and squaring up to Marko Salatovic.
Fire in the belly
Jakirovic said post-match that he won’t be bullied, that given his upbringing during the Homeland War, nothing or nobody frightens him, and he will stick up for his players.
He’s been desperate to see his team fight and show that bit of devilment, and we saw it in spades at St Andrew’s. City need to find that rough edge, where they’re not pushed over easy, and that did not happen here. The grit, determination and fight they showed at St Andrew’s is in the style of their manager, and it means they’ve got a chance this season, provided they can find that consistency we crave.
While Birmingham were struggling to keep their tempers and emotions in check, City were able to rise above that and eventually ensure they got the job done.
Kasey’s knockback
It’s been a difficult couple of weeks for Kasey Palmer after being left out of the squad for the Sheffield United game before the international break.The Jamaican international has returned with a knee injury which now means he’ll be sidelined for the next few weeks, which will come as a hammer blow for him.City now expect Palmer to be out for eight to 10 weeks and joins the list of players unavailable to Jakirovic. While his move hasn’t really worked out since joining from Coventry City on deadline day, on his day, he’s a threat, and that will be the challenge when he returns to find that form.
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