The Tigers came through a tough all-Championship affair to make it through to the fourth round
Hull City celebrate their win over Blackburn Rovers at the MKM Stadium(Image: Pro Sports Images)
Blackburn Rovers head coach Valerien Ismael has called for extra time in the FA Cup to be scrapped after his side were beaten on penalties at Hull City.
A drab game played in front of less than 7,000 fans on a sodden MKM Stadium afternoon finished goalless with just three shots on target, before City prevailed 4-3 on penalties thanks to two saves from Dillon Phillips and David Akintola’s winning kick.
Any Carabao Cup ties that finish in a draw after 90 minutes go straight to a shootout, as the Tigers found against Wrexham in August when they were dumped out, and Ismael wants the Football Association, which scrapped replays last season, to follow suit with its competition.
“The players played in real time 134 minutes. It’s incredible. It just puts the pressure on the body of the players,” he said at the MKM Stadium.
“You can’t tell me that in extra time we saw a quality game, it was just ‘You get the ball, we get the ball’. It makes no sense. It’s better to play 90 minutes with full energy and, at the end, play a penalty shootout.”
There was just one shot on target between the Sky Bet Championship rivals in a poor 90 minutes, although Akintola crashed a volleyed rebound off the bar in the additional half-hour after Oli McBurnie’s header was well saved.
A goalless draw meant the third-round contest was settled by a shootout, where City stopper Phillips saved spot-kicks from substitutes Yuki Ohashi and Moussa Baradji as the Tigers won with goals from Kyle Joseph, McBurnie, Charlie Hughes and Akintola.
Ismael, who made eight changes to his side, added: “You can’t expect to see a great game when everyone is tired, and everyone tried to come through as good as possible. But you want to win, so you try to find the best way.
“We made a brilliant performance when you see that we were without 12 players – 10 injured players and two we left at home, Sondre [Tronstad] and Toddy [Cantwell]. Academy players made their debut, and it was interesting to see that.
“Hull (City) played a strong team. We didn’t see any difference. We were really good in our press, our intensity. We played really well but we didn’t create the big, big chances. But I’m really proud of the boys and what they did today. It was a great away performance and at the end, it is just a lottery.”
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