The first half penalty miss didn’t prove costly for the Tigers in North Wales
Wrexham goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo saves Hull City’s Joe Gelhardt’s penalty kick(Image: PA Wire/PA Images)
Oli McBurnie jokingly told Hull City supporters that Joe Gelhardt won’t be on penalty duties in the remaining weeks of the Championship season, after the Tigers were 2-1 winners in a crucial encounter at the Racecourse.
Gelhardt stepped up and saw his penalty kick saved by Wrexham goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo moments after scoring a breathtaking free-kick to open the scoring for City.
The 13-goal on-loan Leeds United forward had been teed up by McBurnie inside the box before having his legs taken from under him by Callum Doyle.
Still buzzing from his stunning opener, Gelhardt’s kick was stopped by Okonkwo, who flung himself to his left to beat away the strike.
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Sergej Jakirovic’s men went on to score the second goal their dominance deserved when Lewis Koumas glanced in Liam Millar’s cross, moments after Okonkwo had made a fine save to thwart the Canadian after a blistering break.
McBurnie, who came into the game feeling unwell, answered a supporter on social media, explaining that he’d promised Gelhardt a penalty this season, providing he won the kick, and that was the case at the Racecourse.
“Joffy won’t be on pens again ole oleeeeeeee,” the striker wrote with a flurry of laughing faces on social media after the Tigers’ impressive victory.
“I’ve said to him all season if he won it, he could take it, and he just put one in the stanch so he fancied it. My fault, I should have just taken it, no harm done! 3 points!”
For his part, boss Jakirovic, who cannot watch his side’s spot-kicks, admitted he prefers it when the fouled player doesn’t take the penalty.
“God knows, because I don’t watch penalties, and I saw that Oli (McBurnie) had had the ball,” he said of the spot kick. “And then somebody missed the penalty, and they told me it was Joffo (Gelhardt).
“I didn’t see that. In fact, they agreed with each other, I think. If he scores, everything will be fine, but it’s football. I have my rules about penalties. If it’s foul on you, don’t shoot, but this is just me.”
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