Timid Tigers dumped out of Carabao Cup by Grant McCann’s Doncaster

DONCASTER DELIGHT: Rovers players celebrate as Grant McCann’s side knock Hull City out of the Carabao Cup. Pictures courtesy of Hull City

Hull City 1 - 2 Doncaster Rovers

Carabao Cup

MKM Stadium

Attendance: 6,577

By Jack Harrison

Hull City crashed out of the Carabao Cup in the first round tonight after falling to a 2-1 defeat against Grant McCann’s Doncaster Rovers.

The former City boss was in the opposing dugout after returning to the South Yorkshire club for a second spell in charge – but the home dugout was absent of Liam Rosenior, who was serving a one-match touchline ban after being sent off for his reaction to Norwich City’s controversial last-minute winner on Saturday.

The Tigers' boss would have been looking for an instant reaction to Saturday’s heartache, so he would have been pleased to see his side open the scoring in the third minute.

BANNED: City boss Liam Rosenior, back left, watching from the stands after being sent off at Norwich

Aaron Connolly – who was sporting a silvery-white haircut on his return to the MKM Stadium – played in Jason Lokilo who made a darting run through a gaping hole in Rovers’ defence. Lokilo went through on goal, but his initial effort was blocked by the on-rushing Ian Lawlor in the Rovers net. However, the ball fell kindly to the Congolese winger, whose second attempt deflected across the face of goal to Óscar Estupiñán who tapped into an empty net.

Lokilo started brightly on his competitive debut for the Tigers and was causing problems down the right-hand side. The former Crystal Palace man played a nice one-two with Adama Traore and cut the ball back towards the penalty spot – but the cross was just behind Connolly.

All of City’s good work in the opening quarter of an hour was cancelled out when the visitors were gifted an equaliser in the 15th minute.

Matt Ingram played a routine pass out to Adama Traore who was playing in central midfield on the night. Traore tried to play it first-time with his left foot but kicked it against his right and the ball fell to Luke Molyneux, whose effort deflected into the path of George Miller who equalised for League Two Rovers.

The goal seemed to suck the life out of Rosenior’s men, and the visitors almost took the lead five minutes later when Miller played the ball across the six-yard box, but it was turned behind for a corner.

Doncaster had also tasted defeat on the opening day of their campaign against Harrogate Town, but they managed to frustrate the home supporters inside the MKM Stadium, who groaned as Ingram took too long to make a pass for their liking.

To be fair to Ingram, he was probably trying to avoid a repeat of the first goal, but his lack of options when trying to play the ball out seemed to worsen throughout the contest.

City came close to retaking the lead in the 29th minute when Traore’s free-kick was headed back across the face by Cyrus Christie towards last season’s top scorer Óscar, but he could only glance it wide.

Just a minute later, Lokilo received the ball on the right, shifted it onto his stronger left foot, and curled an effort that looked destined for the far corner until it met the head of a defender.

In the 42nd minute, Lokilo went down in the area after another sharp one-two with Traore, but the referee shook his head at the winger’s penalty claim.

It was the visitors that had the last big chance of the half when Ingram was called into action to deny the ever-dangerous Miller from close-range.

Vaughn Covil replaced Rúben Vinagre at half-time and he made an instant impact down the right-hand side by winning a corner which was met by Óscar, but he was denied by a super reaction save.

In the 57th minute, Traore gave the ball away in a similar fashion to Doncaster’s equaliser, but Deji Sotona fired over from distance.

This was Traore’s final action in the game as he was replaced by Regan Slater, while Connolly was also replaced by Liam Delap.

The Tigers failed to build on this though, and the home crowd were becoming more and more restless. Ingram must have been in possession more than any other player throughout the match, and the lack of movement from his teammates left him continuously struggling to find a black and amber shirt.

The frustration among the home fans was compounded when Rovers took the lead in the 61st minute. Christie lost his footing in his own area when attempting to make a tackle, leaving Tyler Roberts free to take his time to pick out Harrison Biggins on the edge of the area. His shot deflected off his teammate Miller and ended up in the back of Ingram’s net.

Unfortunately, going behind was not enough to spur City into life, as they still struggled to play forward. The fans made their feelings clear every time the ball was passed back to Ingram.

In the 84th minute, Delap – who opened his Tigers account at the weekend – clipped the ball into Ozan Tufan – who had been brought on in place of Brandon Flemming. Tufan cushioned a lovely header into the path of Óscar, but he was denied his second of the game by Lawlor.

Four minutes later, Delap won a free kick about 30 yards from goal. Slater dinked a clever ball over the wall to Tufan, but his close-range effort was stopped again by the impressive Lawlor.

City’s final opportunity of the game came in the third minute of stoppage time when Xavier Simons played a ball to the back post and Tufan headed it back across the face of goal, but Delap and Óscar got in each other's way and the Colombian’s header went way over the bar.

After that, the visitors held out for their first away win in all competitions since February.

The Tigers will have to improve on that dismal showing when they welcome another South Yorkshire club in Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.