The Tigers’ New Year slump at the MKM Stadium continues
Referee Andrew Madley shows a yellow card to Hull City’s Regan Slater(Image: PA)
Below-par Hull City suffered a second straight home league defeat as QPR won just for the second time away from home in 11 games with a 3-1 win.
City fell behind to an unfortunate own goal from Paddy McNair after Ivor Pandur failed to deal with a Harvey Vale corner into the box after 20 minutes, which wasn’t particularly well defended by the Tigers. QPR were the better team but conceded out of nothing really before the break, when Yu Hirakawa’s fine run fashioned a tap-in for Joe Gelhardt to level it up.
Daniel Bennie and Richard Kone sealed the three points for the visitiors, while City were left to reflect on another home game without victory, and the anxiety is only going to grow.
Here’s how Tigers reporter Barry Cooper rated the players at the MKM Stadium on Saturday afternoon….
Ivor Pandur: Brave save early on to deny Koki Saito at his feet. Then flapped at Harvey Vale’s corner to allow Rangers to score a cheap goal. Had to do so much better. Big let off in the second half when his poor kick gifted the away side a chance, but they fluffed it. Beaten twice more. Did make a couple of late saves, but the first was the killer. 4/10
Ryan Giles: A 250th career appearance for the Tigers left-back and found the going tough in the first period. That continued in the second. 5/10
Paddy McNair: Unlucky with the own goal, not sure he knew that much about it. Almost made it 2-1 in the second half with a clever flick towards goal. Booked in the second as it all began to unravel. 5/10
John Egan: Didn’t look hugely at ease at times in the first period but was more comfortable in the second for the most part, aside from when his goalkeeper raised his heart level with some questionable kicking. 5/10
Lewie Coyle: Found it difficult to get forward with any real menace in the first half, saw a fierce volley blocked early in the second. Brought off in the second for Drameh. 5/10
Regan Slater: Booked before the break for a late challenge, tried to get City going; played a clever pass for Hirakawa to burst clear to set up the leveller. Some really nice stuff from the centre of the pitch. 7/10
Amir Hadziahmetovic: Restored to the starting line-up and was neat and tidy in the middle of the park. Had greater influence in the second period. 6/10
Yu Hirakawa: Carved out a chance of sorts for Gelhardt at the near post in the opening 15 minutes. Wonderful run and cross created the equaliser. Limped off early in the second half, which was a real shame for him and City. 7/10
Joe Gelhardt: Flashed a tough chance wide from Hirakawa’s cross, before struggling to get into the contest. Made his mark, though, when he bundled in Hirakawa’s fine run and cross just before the break. Scratchy it may have been, but he won’t care. Couldn’t build on it in the second. 6/10
Liam Millar: Curled a fine drive inches wide inside three minutes. Drifted out of it before coming back into it and looking a threat. Needed to see more of it. 6/10
Oli McBurnie: Feeding off scraps. Created a moment for himself when his overhead kicked drifted wide. Had nothing to work with in the second half whatsoever. They’ve got to give him something. 6/10
Subs:
Kieran Dowell (for Hirakawa 56): Came on just before the hour and slotted into the advanced attacking midfield role vacated by Gelhardt. Gave it away badly injury time and got away with it but didn’t moments later when he gifted it to Kone for the third. A disastrous cameo for the experienced playmaker. 4/10
John Lundstram (for Amir 67): Won a couple of important tackles after his introduction but fell away badly in the closing stages. 5/10
Lewis Koumas (for Millar 67): Didn’t really get to have a go at his full-back as he would have liked. 5/10
Kyle Joseph (for Slater 77): Had the ball in the net but restarted play too quickly from a free-kick. Couldn’t get in the game. 5/10
Cody Drameh (for Coyle 77): Had one shot which drifted over, and probably summed up the second half from a poor City side. 5/10
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