The Tigers sealed a big win on the road in the early kick off
Hull City midfielder Matt Crooks (25) celebrates scoring the winner at Portsmouth(Image: Pro Sports Images)
Hull City made it five straight away wins for the first time since 1966 with a gritty 1-0 victory at struggling Portsmouth to cement their top six position.
A drab game, with City awful on the ball, was lit up 17 minutes from time when Matt Crooks came off the bench to slam in a scruffy goal to give the visitors the lead.
The Tigers, below par for long periods against a Pompey side largely restricted to pot shots from distance, had the ball in the net inside two minutes, only to see an offside flag raised.
At this stage of the season, it matters not how the points come, as long as they do. After successive defeats, the Tigers have responded with back-to-back wins, and ahead of games with Ipswich Town, Millwall and Wrexham, that’s especially crucial.
Jakirovic made two changes from Tuesday’s win over Derby County, with one of those enforced because of Ryan Giles’ hamstring injury. Akin Famewo came in for him on the left side of defence, while the scorer of City’s fourth goal in midweek, Lewis Koumas, replaced Liam Millar, who dropped to the bench, with the Liverpool loanee handed a first league start.
Barely a minute had been played and City had the ball in the net through Oli McBurnie, after Gelhardt’s shot from Koumas’ cross was parried into his path by goalkeeper Schmid. Up went the flag, and the opener was ruled out for offside.
A brisk start continued with Zak Swanson forcing a smart save away to his right by Pandur, who was then forced into a save from Terry Devlin and Ebou Adams, as the home side began to dominate the early exchanges.
Jakirovic’s side laboured throughout the first period, giving the ball away with frustrating regularity and therefore couldn’t find any momentum in the game. It was the home side who had the upper hand throughout, though City will have been pleased to have got in at 0-0.
Little changed early in the second half from City’s point of view. They were still treading water and unable to wrestle any significant control.
Gustavo Caballero came on for Harvey Blair just before the hour, and moments later, after Amir was booked for a challenge on Ebou Adams, Matt Crooks and John Lundstram were introduced in place of Amir and Joseph.
Crooks’ influence was being felt and his challenge freed Slater, who couldn’t find the final ball. With City gradually working their way into it, the playmaker scored the goal just like he did on the final day last season.
Lundstram and McBurnie forced errors before the ball broke free to Crooks, who made no mistake to slam into the net vacated by Schmid with 15 minutes left.
On came Liam Millar for Gelhardt, with Koumas moving to the right in a bid to hold onto what he had, Jakirovic brought on Kieran Dowell and Paddy McNair for Slater and Koumas. Pandur was later booked for taking too long over a free-kick.
Despite a flurry of balls into the box, City held out to complete the league double over Pompey, and give their loyal band of supporters another day to remember on the South Coast, though this one may not live quite so long in the memory as the last.
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Portsmouth: Schmid; Devlin, Poole, Ogilvie, Swanson; Pack, Adams; Blair, Segečić, Alli; Bishop. Subs: Bursik, Williams, Matthews, Dia, Bowat, Le Roux, Caballero, Chaplin, Brown.
Hull City: Pandur, Famewo, Hughes, Egan, Coyle (c), Hadziahmetovic, Slater, Koumas, Joseph, Gelhardt, McBurnie. Subs: Phillips, Howard, Crooks, Millar, Lundstram, McNair, McCarthy, Drameh, Dowell.
Referee: Sam Allison
Attendance: 20,228 (998 from City)
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