A first half collapse saw the Tigers thrashed on their home turf
Hull City offered a performance as desperate as the horrific East Yorkshire weather to succumb to a Friday night thrashing by Middlesbrough, who took advantage of the Championship’s second-worst defence with four first-half goals to seal a 4-1 win at the MKM Stadium.
Amid so much positivity ahead of a game where City would have gone third and a place behind Boro, that quickly evaporated in a dismal first half where their defensive issues were embarrassingly exposed.
City’s haphazard defending was again their undoing after just nine minutes when David Strelec was afforded space to fire in the top corner after the Tigers fell asleep from a swift counter, and from then on, it was a disaster. Boro bagged four in the first half, with Alex Gilbert, Morgan Whittaker and Riley McGree all taking advantage of the leakiest defence in the Championship.
Fans voted with their feet, on an awful night, many were heading for the exits well before the half-time whistle came and who could blame them.
As is often the case in these games, City were better in the second half and got on the scoresheet when Joe Gelhardt converted their first penalty of the season, after being fouled by the goalkeeper, but they were well beaten.
Jakirovic made two changes to the side that came from behind to beat Stoke City last Saturday, with Amir Hadziahmetovic and Kyle Joseph coming in for Darko Gyabi and Joel Ndala. The big news was that there were returns to the matchday squad for Oli McBurnie and Liam Millar, while Charlie Hughes was back after missing last weekend with a hamstring complaint. There was no John Lundstram owing to a slight knee issue.
On a sodden, cold, festive evening, the already later 8pm kick-off was shifted back to 8:15 to allow fans to navigate the treacherous traffic conditions and the game began in frantic fashion with both sides trying to pour forward, but it was the visitors who had the first attempt when Morgan Whittaker fizzed an effort low at Ivor Pandur from distance five minutes in.
With their first attack, the visitors were in front after City failed to deal with a long ball in behind their back line, Conway cut the ball to Whittaker and his blocked effort was turned in by David Strelec. Such a poor goal to give away, and the theme of the season so far.
They almost gifted Boro a second when Pandur came out for a ball and clattered into Egan, with it spinning away and behind for a corner. Luckily, it spun away from Whittaker who would have rolled into an empty net.
Worse was to come, though, as a flurry of errors eventually allowed the ball to come to Alex Gilbert on the edge of the box to fire into the bottom corner after Egan had given away the ball to Conway. Two became three within three minutes when Whittaker curled in.
Jakirovic stood on the touchline, arms spread. Shellshocked at what he was watching, and so too, were some supporters who made for the exits after just 35 minutes. The fourth soon followed when Riley McGree latched onto yet more shambolic defending to poke in the net.
Even the referee felt sorry for City, blowing the half-time whistle before the two minutes had elapsed to a chorus of boos from those who had remained.
In truth, that first half could have happened at Norwich, it could have happened at Stoke, but Boro were in no mood to show any mercy.
Jakirovic hauled off Joseph and Amir at the break with Mo Belloumi and Hughes on in their places. In truth, the Croatian could have dragged off any of his players.
City’s first attempt at goal came after 56 minutes when Egan prodded towards goal, and it was greeted by the typical ironic cheers. That was closely followed by their first corner, which saw Boro break and Slater bring down his man and collect a deserved, but needed caution.
Gelhardt made it 10 for the season when he converted from the penalty spot after being fouled by the goalkeeper, to give the home fans something to cheer. With 25 minutes left, Millar made his return for Destan.
With the game on, Jakirovic opted to rest Gelhardt and Slater for the final 15 minutes, with Darko Gyabi and David Akintola getting a runout.
If nothing else, after that shambles of a first half, City did at least win the second half, but the need to sort out their defending is such a pressing issue.
Hull City: Pandur, Giles, Ajayi, Egan, Coyle (c), Amir, Slater, Crooks, Joseph, Gelhardt, Destan. Subs: Phillips, Hughes, Famewo, McBurnie, Millar, Belloumi, Gyabi, Ndala, Akintola.
Middlesbrough: Brynn, Brittain, Targett, Jones, Hackney (c), McGree, Conway, Whittaker, Strelec, Gilbert, Bangura. Subs: McLaughlin, Burgzorg, Hamilton, Nypan, Sene, Silvera, Edmundson, Hansen, McCormick.
Referee: Dean Whitestone
Attendance: 21,105 (2,346 from Boro)
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