City have it all to do in the final two games of the season
Liam Millar had fired Hull City in front at the King Power Stadium(Image: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Hull City were held to a 2-2 draw at Leicester City on Tuesday evening, despite goals from Liam Millar and Oli McBurnie’s 15th strike of the season.
Two goals in two second-half minutes turned the game on its head for the Foxes, after Liam Millar’s first-half opener was cancelled out with a contentious penalty decision which saw Sergej Jakirovic sent off.
McBurnie’s strike salvaged what might yet be a valuable point for the Tigers, who have just two games left to secure a play-off place or risk missing out.
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Here’s what City reporter Barry Cooper made of the occasion
Dropped points galore
If City now miss out on the top six, they’ll have only themselves to blame. In four of the last five games, they have scored first, but failed to win any of them.
Games against Oxford United, Sheffield United, Birmingham City and now Leicester City have all seen the Tigers go in front and fail to make the most of it.
They’ve now dropped 24 points from winning positions this season, and had they collected even a couple of those they would be in a commanding position.
They’re now the hunter rather than the hunted
For four months, the Tigers have been able to keep everybody below them with results ensuring they remained locked inside the top six. All that’s changed now, with City dumped out of the play-off zone with Wrexham leapfrogging them into sixth.
Wrexham are now in the box seat with only two games to go, though City will play 24 hours before Phil Parkinson’s side who go to champions Coventry City on Sunday lunchtime.
Wrexham have been chasing for weeks, so now it’ll be interesting to see how they deal with the pressure of being the team everybody below them wants to catch.
More injury woes
Another setback came before kick-off, with the news that Amir picked up a knee injury on Saturday and will now miss the remaining two games of the season, and must therefore be considered a doubt for the play-offs, should City get that far.
Losing Amir is another cruel blow, and comes on the back of seeing Cody Drameh and Toby Collyer pick up season-ending injuries in the past week. They’ll hope the reason Mo Belloumi was withdrawn at half-time was nothing more than precaution.
It also continues what has been a remarkable season of bad luck when it comes to player fitness, and something that will need to be looked into closely over the summer.
A poignant moment before kick-off
Ahead of kick-off, a group of City fans laid wreaths at the base of the Vichai statue, the former Foxes owner who guided the club to the Premier League title in 2016, before being tragically killed in a helicopter crash at the King Power Stadium.
While that season will be remembered forever by Foxes fans for what they achieved, it was also one to remember for City, who won promotion at Wembley by beating Sheffield Wednesday.
Those two seasons will forever be remembered by both clubs and their supporters, and it was a heartfelt touch by the Tigers to place a wreath at the statue for the man who had a dream.
Strangest atmosphere in memory
There were large swathes of empty blue seats before kick-off, the pre-match music was pumped up to dreadful levels to cover for the fact there was no noise from the home fans.
As soon as the players emerged ahead of kick-off, their names were roundly booed by the home fans, except for Jordan James. They were booed during the first half and again at half-time.
When Harry Winks came out to warm up, he was jeered and abusive songs were sent his way. He was booed when he came on, and it carried on from there. There were jeers throughout and after their relegation was confirmed, it turned even more toxic. After the game, fans were protesting outside, with that audible throughout the post-match press conferences.
The toxic environment in the second half, especially, didn’t help City, in truth, with Leicester’s players having one final swing to try and get a result.
City have to believe
It’s been a poor run with no wins in five games, and it’s come at the worst possible time. Ordinarily, a point away at Leicester would normally be viewed as a good result, but given the situation, coupled with Wrexham’s win at Oxford United, it was seen as anything but.
The Tigers have to believe they can still finish the job. There’s two games and six points to play for, and now the pressure really is on. They have to go to Charlton Athletic on Saturday and win. A draw won’t be enough.
Jakirovic’s men have the quality to get three points at The Valley, and that’s now what they must do. All is not lost. They can still finish in the top six.
No VAR next term
The EFL have confirmed that there will be changes to the technology in the Championship next season. Jakirovic has repeatedly said this season that he thinks VAR should be introduced, but that will not happen, should the Tigers still find themselves in the EFL.
Here’s what the EFL have had to say…
“Following a recent consultation with Clubs, the League can confirm that there will be no introduction of further technology to support Match Officials in the Sky Bet Championship.
“for the 2026/27 season. The consultation found that a significant majority of Clubs in the division did not favour the introduction of a Football Video Support ‘challenge’ system. The use of Goal Line Technology – which has been in operation in the division since the 2017/18 season – will continue.”
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