Shambolic Tigers held by Pompey as pressure mounts on Walter

Pictures courtesy of Hull City

Hull City 1 - 1 Portsmouth

Sky Bet Championship

MKM Stadium

Attendance: 21,904

By Sam Hawcroft, Hull City Correspondent

Hull City surrendered a 1-0 lead for the third time in a row in what many deemed as a “must-win” match against bottom club Portsmouth.

Rarely has a draw felt more like a loss, after a promising first half was followed up by a dire second-half showing during which the home fans’ frustration grew ever more audible.

This was the match the Tigers really needed to win convincingly to ease what is now growing pressure on manager Tim Walter, who promised exciting, attacking football – but so far City have won just three matches, only one of those at home, this season. We are far enough into the campaign now to be able to expect some consistency and direction, but it’s just not happening.

City had started well, and their first good move came inside three minutes. Abu Kamara managed to get around Terry Devlin and laid it on for Gustavo Puerta. He played into Regan Slater, whose shot was deflected over.

In the 11th minute the Tigers were ahead. João Pedro – replacing Chris Bedia in the starting line-up – bagged his first goal in black and amber.

It began with a brilliant ball from Charlie Hughes near the halfway line, switching play up to Mohamed Belloumi racing down the right. Belloumi played it across to Pedro who was onside and perfectly placed to tap in from close range.

City were nearly 2-0 up three minutes later, when Pompey keeper Nicolas Schmid pulled off a fantastic stop to deny a point-blank header from Xavier Simons, played in by a Belloumi ball not dissimilar from his previous assist. A great chance gone begging, and one the Tigers would come to rue…

There was a brief lull around the 18th minute while Portsmouth captain Regan Poole received treatment, but he was able to recover and continue as City sought to regain their momentum. Given previous disappointing 1-1 draws, 1-0 never looked like going to be enough. The Tigers simply had to put this game out of sight.

In the 28th minute, though, they very nearly surrendered their lead as a shot from Callum Lang, through on goal after a slip by Hughes, was tipped just wide of the far post by Ivor Pandur. It was a huge let-off, given that Pompey had had, up to this point, barely 15 per cent of the possession and only the briefest of forays into the Tigers’ box.

Just after the half-hour came another good opportunity for the Tigers, as Kamara beat his man again and played in Puerta down the left. After a slip by the Portsmouth defender, Puerta found himself through on goal just yards out. Aiming to put it through Schmid’s legs, his shot hit the keeper, and Pompey eventually managed to scramble it away.

Right before half-time, Portsmouth won a free kick near the corner flag after a needless foul by Belloumi that you could see coming a mile off. Matt Ritchie took it, but it was easily cleared by City.

True enough, City would come to regret not putting away their first-half chances as Pompey levelled just a minute after the restart.

It was a pretty shambolic one to give away, too. The Tigers failed to deal with the cross from the right, with first Cody Drameh slipping and then Simons stumbling and falling in the box as he attempted to clear.

An unmarked Josh Murphy stepped up and saw his shot from the penalty spot deflect off skipper Lewie Coyle and in – and the impressive away following in the North East corner exploded.

The home fans may well have expected the tide to turn at some point, given the Tigers’ recent form – perhaps just not as soon as this, though, when many fans were still seeing off their half-time pints. In the blink of an eye, all that promising first-half work was undone, and Portsmouth now had the upper hand.

In the 58th minute, Kusini Yengi hit a 25-yard free kick well over, as City struggled to get the ball out of their own half, and a few boos of frustration could be heard coming from the home stands.

The Tigers urgently needed to regain a grip on things, and on the hour mark they did manage to go forward, but there was nothing much coherent to speak of. Belloumi crossed, Slater chipped it to… no one in particular. Baffling, really.

Shortly after, a good ball into the area from Andre Dozzell came close to putting Pompey in front, but Yengi’s header was well held by Pandur. The disquiet among the Tigers fans was becoming more apparent as things went on.

Walter made his first changes in the 63rd minute, replacing the entire midfield as Oscar Zambrano, Abdüş Ömür and Kasey Palmer replaced Simons, Slater and Puerta.

Moments later, Yengi went down in the area, but the referee waved away his furious appeals for a penalty. Then Hughes conceded a free kick on the edge of the D in a central position, and it was Ritchie this time who took it. Again, it went over, but far closer than Yengi’s previous effort.

With 20 minutes to go, came another City corner – but again, it came to nothing. Seconds later, Belloumi had it in the box again after good work down the right, but he could only pass to a Pompey defender. This really was… not great. Not great at all.

Towards the last ten minutes there was a stoppage for an injury to Kamara near the North East corner flag, and he was eventually replaced by Will Jarvis.

Pedro was then replaced by Bedia as the Tigers went on the attack again. Palmer played a great ball out wide to Jarvis, who lofted the ball across the goal, but there was no one around to latch on to it.

With four minutes to go, Coyle was brought down by substitute Owen Moxon, who was booked for his troubles, leading to a free kick on the right about 25 yards out. Ömür and Palmer stood over it, and in the end it was the latter who booted it straight into the arms of Schmid.

Seconds after six minutes of added time were announced, Portsmouth came so close to snatching all three points.

Drameh slipped and lost out to Murphy, who surged into the box from the right. Pandur saved Murphy’s effort, and Lang’s follow-up shot cannoned off the bar. Finally, the offside flag was raised, and City could breathe a huge sigh of relief.

So, the points were shared and really the only positive thing is that we didn’t lose.

Walter spends much of his time on the touchline waving his arms about maniacally – but could he be about to wave goodbye to the Tigers? It’s not looking good. Clearly riled by the boos from the Tigers fans, in a post-match interview with Radio Humberside, he appeared to level criticism directly at them, prompting uproar on social media. The manager having a pop at the fans – that usually doesn’t end well, does it?

Yes, Walter was appointed late, and the recruitment was done late, so a hell of a lot of this is on the ownership. It’s all a bit of a mess – the question is, how long does this go on for?