City slump to defeat against the Blades

Picture credit: Hull City

Hull City 1 - 3 Sheffield United

Sky Bet Championship

By Sam Hawcroft, Hull City correspondent

Hull City finally found the net for the first time since the opening match of the season, but it couldn’t prevent Sheffield United coasting the Yorkshire derby and dumping the Tigers in the bottom three.

The pre-match signs had looked ominous to even the most upbeat of City fans; there was much grumbling on social media beforehand about the lack of wholesale changes after Tuesday night’s 2-0 defeat at Blackburn. Tom Huddlestone and Greg Docherty had picked up injuries, and Grant McCann had decided to leave ex-Blade Tyler Smith on the bench. 

There was also that most unwanted of statistics hanging over the occasion – failure to score today would have meant seven games without a goal; a club record, and the longest period in more than a century. Then there was the curse of Sky TV; recent televised games had seen us battered by Brentford and lashed by Leeds.

Add to that a packed-out North Stand full of 4,000 United fans in full voice, taunting the home fans about “empty seats”, and the fact that this was a newly relegated Premier League side pitted against a newly promoted League One side… it all pointed to a torrid afternoon for the Tigers, and the smart money would have been on the Blades to come out on top.

And yet, their recent form had been wobbly to say the least, and there was one pre-match bonus for City – the return of George Honeyman, albeit on the bench, after a long injury lay-off. In the first 10 minutes the Tigers looked promising, winning three corners, and Matt Smith shooting over early on.

But it was indeed the favourites Sheffield United who took the lead through a set-piece, City’s achilles heel, in the 17th minute. Billy Sharp headed in from close range from a cross by Morgan Gibbs-White, for the Blades’ first goal on their travels this season.

The Tigers struggled to regain control of the game and on 31 minutes Matt Ingram did well to save low to his left to keep out Gibbs-White. At the other end, Richie Smallwood had a punt from about 25 yards out but it was easily collected by Robin Olsen. It was perhaps telling that this was City’s best effort so far. They did come closer on the 39th minute when, from a corner, Di’Shon Bernard’s downward header was just the wrong side of the right-hand post.

A minute later, the Blades fans were up in arms after a corner was given despite Keane Lewis-Potter’s ball appearing to run out of play, though it only resulted in Lewie Coyle blasting well over.

Then on 42 minutes came what looked as though it could be the turning point in the game, when Jacob Greaves was ruled to have fouled Sharp, who was through on goal – penalty to United was the decision, to howls of protest from the stands as Sharp had looked offside. The fans, though, made it more than clear that justice had been done when Ingram saved Sharp’s spot kick.

Picture credit: Hull City

The joy of seeing Honeyman enter the fray after the restart was tempered within five minutes. City couldn’t capitalise on that penalty let-off as they were yet again undone by a set-piece, John Egan heading home from a corner. Morgan-Gibbs then forced a leaping save from Ingram with a 20-yard effort.

Once, twice… three times was beginning to look like carelessness as just 10 minutes later, Egan had bagged his second – and the Blades’ third – from a corner set-piece, with another close-range header from Conor Hourihane’s cross.

In the 74th minute, with the game well out of reach for City, Lewis-Potter ensured the game wouldn’t, at least, be memorable for that awful stat, when he latched on to a pass by Tyler Smith and slotted in from close range. “How **** must you be, we’ve scored a goal…” sang the fans.

Five minutes later Tyler Smith had the ball in the net himself, but was ruled offside in another contentious decision as the video appeared to show him level. All a bit too little, too late - though McCann said it had been a “big moment in the game”.

He added: “That takes it to 3-2 with 10 minutes to go; I’m not saying we’d have equalised, but it would certainly have given us the best opportunity. I’ve looked at [the video], and he’s on, and at the Billy Sharp incident, and he’s fractionally off.

“They’re big calls in the game, and if you’re going to give the benefit of the doubt to the centre-forward, then you need to be consistent with it. I’m not making an excuse for the result today, but those big moments have cost us goals.”

The Hull City fans were streaming out as Coyle shot well over in the 89th minute, but the Blades contingent were going nowhere. The job had been done, and they were going to enjoy their moment in the sun.

After the match, McCann defended his decision to start Tyler Smith on the bench, and insisted he believed he’d picked the “right team that could go on and win the game”. “It’s not always about the team that starts the game, it’s about what you’ve got on the bench,” he said.

He knows he has to change things, and fast. “Things aren’t going our way at this present time, and I’m not a believer in luck – you have to make your own luck. We are just not at the level yet, and it’s showing in the results. But I can’t keep coming here and saying, ‘We were unlucky’ – we need to start winning games, and we’ll continue to work hard at doing that.”