City were beaten on the road at The Hawthorns, where their desperate record was extended
Hull City pair John Egan and Matt Crooks show their disappointment at West Brom(Image: Cody Froggatt/PA Wire/PA Images)
Hull City turned in one of their worst performances of the season on Saturday, losing 3-0 to struggling West Brom who secured their first win of 2026 in some style.
After their impressive display at Wrexham on Tuesday night, City arrived at The Hawthorns in good spirits against an Albion side who sat in the bottom three, but Sergej Jakirovic’s side were well beaten.
Their cause was not helped when Charlie Hughes was dismissed for a last-man foul on Jed Wallace before half-time, with City already a goal down.
Two goals in the second period did for the Tigers, who suffered a damaging away defeat and face being without Charlie Hughes next weekend, unless they can get his red card overturned.
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Here, City reporter Barry Cooper looks back on a dismal afternoon in the Black Country…
As poor as they’ve been
Every now and then this season, City have thrown in a shocker of a performance. Blackburn at home springs to mind, although they were hit with illness; Bristol City away and Middlesbrough, too. In fairness to Jakirovic’s men, days like this are few and far between.
Little went right and the tone was set almost from kick-off when they gave the ball away cheaply, and failed to deal with Jed Wallace time and time again. Semi Ajayi and Matt Crooks both made early errors and that just flowed throughout the team.
Despite being second best all over the pitch for 90 minutes, Oli McBurnie will probably tell you he should have scored one of the two sights of goal he had early on, and had one of those gone in, we might be having a very different conversation. As it is, they’ve got to dust themselves off and focus on taking care of business against the Owls next week.
City’s run of form
Five defeats in their last 10 matches have just created a little bit of anxiety among City fans, and that’s understandable. In four of those five defeats, they’ve conceded three times and that’s a worry. The ease with which Albion carved out chances when it was 11vs11 was a concern, and something Jakirovic will want to sort out.
The Tigers remain in a fantastic position, and you’d probably think four wins from their remaining eight will be enough to secure a play-off place, depending on what those in the chasing pack produce. Southampton are the form team and have their game in hand against Norwich City on Wednesday night.
What we do know, and we’ve said it all season, is that the Tigers generally respond well to setbacks, and the game they’ve got coming up has to be dealt with, but let’s be honest, they couldn’t ask for a better one to go into the break with.
Charlie’s naivety
Charlie Hughes has been one of City’s best signings since Acun Ilicalli bought the club, and he will go on and have a fantastic career, but every now and then, you get a reminder of his young years.
The way he lost the ball to Jed Wallace and then dragged him back was naive at best. Whether or not it was a red card, everybody will have an opinion, but given where he was on the pitch, he gave the referee a decision to make and it went against him.
Assuming the appeal isn’t overturned, which is hard to imagine at this stage, he’ll be banned for the weekend and will have to learn from it, which I’m sure he will.
The left-back issue
The return of Matt Crooks bolstered what is looking like a much healthier squad for Jakirovic to deal with, aside from the issues at left-back. They’re still without a flurry of key players like Ryan Giles and Yu Hirakawa, but things elsewhere were looking up before Lewie Coyle’s latest setback.
Certainly, in midfield with Crooks, Toby Collyer and John Lundstram back and available, joining Regan Slater and Amir Hadziahmetovic, Jakirovic has no shortage of options in the middle of the park, and he’ll hope for an improved display against the Owls.
Mo Belloumi’s return in the past week is another major shot in the arm, and while they’ll continue to be careful with him, the fact that he’s back and building up his minutes is vital. On the left side of defence, however, City do have issues with no Giles, Matty Jacob or Akin Famewo, and that’s something he’ll have to figure out this week.
A clear midweek
After a busy three weeks of midweek games all over the shop, City can now look forward to a quiet week leading into the Yorkshire derby on Saturday and that will be useful because it felt like they ran out of gas at The Hawthorns.
City have been sent to Portsmouth, Ipswich and Wrexham over the past few days, and it’s taken its toll on the players, so with just one game to come before the international break, it’ll give Jakirovic a chance to do some work on the training pitch and get a bit of rest into the players.
Then all focus turns to the visit of Sheffield Wednesday in what is undoubtedly a slippery game for City, but one they absolutely have to treat with respect and take care of, and has probably taken on more importance given the nature of their display in the Black Country.
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