City failed to score in front of their own fans against a determined Watford side but showed their battlign qualities
Hull City’s Oliver McBurnie and Watford’s James Abankwah battle for the ball (Image: Mike Egerton/PA Wire)
Hull City were forced to settle for a point against Watford at the MKM Stadium, closing the gap on the Championship’s top two to four points with 16 games to go after a 0-0 draw.
A poor game struggled to get going all night with both sides cancelling each other out, though in truth, the managerless Hornets probably had the better of the chances.
The point sees the Tigers’ four-game winning run ended, though it does open up a nine-point cushion to seventh with just a sixth draw of the season.
Jakirovic made three changes from the win at Ewood Park on Saturday, with Akin Famewo not fit enough to feature in the starting XI so his place went to Matty Jacob starting a Tigers game for the first time in a year, while there were full home debuts and first starts for Yu Hirakawa and Kieran Dowell at the expense of Liam Millar and John Lundstram who dropped to the bench. Toby Collyer wasn’t involved, though he’s expected to be involved at the weekend when Bristol City arrive at the MKM Stadium.
The away side dominated the early exchanges in the middle of the park, but the first chance of a quiet opening came from a well-worked corner routine from the hosts, with Amir finding Gelhardt to turn wide from the edge of the box.
Jeremy Ngakia was given the freedom of the box to walk in and lay it off to Louza who fizzed wide, before Giorgi Chakvetadze went close, forcing a good save from Pandur. From the resulting corner, Stephen Mfuni headed wide. Watford were, by some distance the better side in a drab first half, though right at the end of it, Gelhardt’s free-kick was met by Charlie Hughes, forcing a fine diving save from Egil Selvik. Jeremy Ngakia was cautioned for taking out Yu Hirakawa.
Dowell’s neat flick early in the second half saw Slater nearly open the scoring with his drive tipped over by the unconvincing Selvik, who made a habit of flapping at a flurry of corners and crosses into his box. On the hour, Lewis Koumas and John Lundstram were introduced in place of Amir and Dowell.
Mfuni was then taken off before he might have been sent off. Kevin Keben was on in his place while Jeremy Petris came on for Ngakia moments after Hughes made a huge block, but the visitors should have gone in front 20 minutes from time when a neat move saw Mamadou Doumbia somehow slice wide from close range, and he was booked soon after for showing his annoyance.
On came Liam Millar and Ryan Giles for City, who pushed to try and find that moment of magic, but in truth, rarely did the Tigers look like finding a way in and had to settle for the point.
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Hull City: Pandur, Jacob (Giles 73), Hughes, Egan, Coyle (c), Amir (Lundstram 60), Slater, Dowell (Koumas 60), Hirakawa (Joseph 82), Gelhardt (Millar 73), McBurnie. Subs: Phillips, Koumas, Joseph, Millar, Lundstram, McNair, McCarthy, Famewo, Giles.
Watford: Selvik, Ngakia (Petris 65), Abankwah, Mfuni (Keben 65), Bola, N. Mendy, Louza (c), Kayembe, Chakvetadze (Baah 74), Maamma (Ince 90), Doumbia (Kjerrumgaard. 74). Subs: Baxter, Keben, F.Mendy, Petris, Grieves, Ince, Baah, Semedo, Kjerrumgaard.
Referee: Leigh Doughty
Man of the Match: Charlie Hughes
Attendance: 20,441
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