Need to know
City lost more bodies in their penultimate friendly of the summer
Jens Hjerto-Dahl made his Hull City debut against Eintracht Frankfurt(Image: Hull City AFC)
An injury-ravaged Hull City suffered their first pre-season friendly defeat in two years on Saturday, when they were beaten 2-0 by Bundesliga giants Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany. A goal in each half of 60 minutes condemned the Tigers to defeat, but the afternoon will be remembered for yet more injuries sustained by Sergej Jakirovic’s depleted side.
The afternoon didn’t start well for City, who lost Paddy McNair to injury inside five minutes, with the Northern Irishman replaced by Cathal McCarthy.
It took almost 20 minutes for the game’s first chance, when Elias Baum cut in off the right and picked out Jonathan Burkardt at the back post to head wide, after Semi Ajayi had misjudged the cross. At the other end, Matt Crooks surged forward before sweeping out to Mo Belloumi, to cut inside and drive just over.
Chances came and went for the English side, with Oli McBurnie turning over from Ryan Giles’ cross, before Regan Slater’s effort was saved, as more penalty shouts were waved away. Amid a dominant spell from the visitors, Frankfurt took a controversial lead when Raphael Onyedika’s ball over the top found Burkardt in space to slot in the net. The Tigers felt he was offside, and that an earlier free-kick had been taken too quickly, too.
To make matters worse, before the interval in a game being played over 120 minutes, split into two one-hour games, Liam Millar limped off holding his left knee, after a collision with goalkeeper Kaua Santos. Early in the second period, the hosts doubled their lead when Love Arrhov curled beyond an unsighted Tzolakis to seal victory for the Bundesliga side.
City ended the game with a host of young players in their team, though they were able to get 90 minutes into Tzolakis and an hour into Jens Hjerto-Dahl. Calvin Okike came closest to pulling a goal back when his effort was cleared off the line from Kieran Dowell’s corner. Attention for City now turns to the transfer market, and their final friendly of the summer against Nice on Saturday.
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Everything you need to know from the game
- City’s squad looked like this: Tzolakis, Giles, Ajayi, McNair, Coyle, Crooks, Slater, Hjerto-Dahl, Belloumi, Millar, McBurnie. Subs: Phillips, Akintola, McCarthy, Okike, Targett, Moore, Silk, Dowell, Omur, Sellars-Fleming, Ashbee, Ocoya, Robinson, Matique.
- No Jack Butland, Charlie Hughes, Hidemasa Morita, Darko Gyabi, John Egan or Enis Destan through injury
- New signings Tzolakis and Hjerto-Dahl both started
- City lose Paddy McNair through injury inside five minutes
- McBurnie goes close from Giles’ left-sided cross, all started by Tzolakis’ clever ball out to Coyle. City see some good chances come and go before Jonathan Burkardt slots in the opener despite looking well offside
- Liam Millar departs in the first period with a knee injury to compound the Tigers’ injury worries
- Matt Targett gets his first 30-minute run-out since joining last month, Hjerto-Dahl plays an hour on his debut
- Academy youngster Ben Robinson, David Akintola and Abdus Omur come on at half-time for Coyle, Belloumi and Hjerto-Dahl
- City end the game with three academy players in their back four (McCarthy, Calvin Okike and Robinson), and three more further up the pitch in Bobby Moore, Rueben Silk and Tyrell Sellars-Fleming. Josh Ocaya and Albert Matique on in the final moments
- Bobby Moore and Frankfurt substitute Niels Nkounkou were booked in the second period as the game fizzled out
- The Tigers now fly back to England to prepare for their final friendly of the summer against Ligue 1 side Nice at the MKM Stadium next Saturday afternoon (3pm)
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