Matt Crooks scored again at Fratton Park to put smiles on Tigers’ faces
Matt Crooks was City’s hero again at Fratton Park(Image: Steven Paston/PA Wire)
Matt Crooks’ 73rd-minute goal was enough to make it back-to-back wins for Hull City, and notch up a ninth away win of the season with a 1-0 success at Portsmouth.
City had just two shots on target in the game, with one of those coming inside two minutes, and then it was largely a war of attrition for Tigers supporters before Crooks latched onto a goalkeeping error to thump into an unguarded net.
Sergej Jakirovic’s charges avoided any late slip-ups and left Fratton Park feeling very happy with themselves, just as they did almost 10 months earlier after their great escape.
Here, City reporter Barry Cooper looks back on a less eventful but hugely important day on the South Coast
History made
For the first time since 1966, City have now won five straight away games, and in fact, it’s the first time since the following season the Tigers have completed the league double over Pompey. In that 1965/66 campaign, the Tigers ended up winning Division Three.
Since losing in quick succession at Derby County and QPR in November, the Tigers have won seven games, with their 2-2 draw at Sheffield Wednesday stopping that from becoming eight.
No team in the Championship has won more than nine in 16 on the road, City have. It’s remarkable form, and has seen them collect 30 points, exactly half of their total.
A game like so many
For long periods, City looked anything but a team that could be a Premier League side in just a few months’ time. They were awful, quite frankly. Sloppy on the ball, they were guilty of giving it away so cheaply. It had the feeling of other games this season, like Norwich City away.
While Pompey were hardly peppering Ivor Pandur’s goal, they were a threat to a point, and the biggest success was getting into half-time at 0-0. And you fancied there would be some improvement in the second, and there was with John Lundstram and Matt Crooks making a big difference.
When that chance came, created by the press and work rate of Lundstram, Oli McBurnie and Crooks, they gobbled it up. As poor as City were on the day, they’ve got the job done, and that’s all that really matters.
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Clinical City
Many fans and observers have pointed to City having the lowest XG in the league and criticised their performances. Few in Black and Amber would argue that their side was below par on the South Coast, but at this stage of the season, three points are all that really matter.
Good sides find a way to win
In the last two games, they’ve had five shots on target and scored four goals. That’s called being clinical. And after Watford, Bristol City and QPR, Jakirovic’s men just had to find a way, and that’s what they’ve done.
Derby were scrapping for points in the play-off race, and Pompey are at the other end, desperate for points and have won at Millwall in the past week, so they were going to be no pushovers. It wasn’t their best, but it was effective, and it was clinical. That’s what the successful teams do when it’s needed.
McBurnie’s sickness
The Scotland striker chased around all afternoon without much success; most of it was for lost causes. After seeing his goal ruled out inside two minutes, he spent the rest of the game forlornly trying to make something happen.
His chasing down of the goalkeeper to force an error was fashioned at the moment the Tigers needed to score the goal and win the game, but before that, he was seen being sick on the pitch.
Jakirovic joked that it was a dodgy omelette before the game, while McBurnie himself suggested he needed to lay off the caffeine gels at half-time. Either way, you have to give him credit for carrying on as he did.
The next three games
The upcoming games are tasty, aren’t they? Ipswich Town, Millwall and Wrexham. Third, fourth and sixth take on the Tigers, with two of those coming away from home, starting with Portman Road on Tuesday night.
What the situation looks like come 10pm in North Wales on Tuesday week remains to be seen, but what we do know is that it’ll be a fascinating period, and once those are done with, we’ll be into the final 10.
Winning at Fratton Park, on the back of Derby, gives them some breathing space and surely, no shortage of confidence that this amazing run can carry on.
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