Jacob’s late leveller forces Tigers FA Cup replay with Birmingham

Pictures courtesy of Hull City

Hull City 1 - 1 Birmingham

FA Cup Third Round

MKM Stadium

Attendance: 12,200

By Sam Hawcroft, Hull City Correspondent

The Tigers are in the hat for the fourth round of the FA Cup after a very late equaliser from Matty Jacob cancelled out Lukas Jutkiewicz’s 18th-minute strike.

Third-round cup fever wasn’t exactly overflowing at the MKM Stadium, with a significantly lower attendance of just over 12,000 and the West Stand Upper closed – but then, with all due respect to Birmingham, the visit of the fellow Championship side was possibly the least exciting cup draw the Tigers could have hoped for, and many fans clearly opted to save their pennies after the excesses of Christmas and New Year.

As expected, Liam Rosenior fielded a much-changed side, with seven changes from the New Year’s Day defeat at Sheffield Wednesday. Ryan Allsop was back between the sticks and Allahyar Sayyadmanesh, who impressed after being brought on at Hillsborough, was attacking down the left wing until moving to the right after a switch-up in the second half.

Jacob, who was also a second-half substitute on New Year’s Day, made the starting 11 today – and he is notable for another reason. The matchday programme informed us that, as Jacob is the grandson of Tigers defender Geoff Baker, this makes them the second grandfather/grandson combination to represent Hull City. Kudos to those who can tell us the first!

Back to today’s Cup match, then. There wasn’t much action to speak of in the first 10 minutes – Aaron Connolly had his moments in the Birmingham box at one point and, at the other end, Lukas Jutkiewicz shot straight at Allsop from about eight yards. An uncharitable chant about Wayne Rooney, who was unceremoniously dumped as Blues manager last week, could be heard from their fans in the North East corner, too.

Birmingham should have been 1-0 up in the 13th minute, though, after a mistake by Sean McLoughlin gifted them possession yards from the area, but Jutkiewicz missed a sitter, putting his shot inches wide of the right post with Allsop well beaten.

Moments later, Connolly shot over from a great position after good work from Allahyar and then Jacob caused all sorts of problems in the Blues box.

However, Jutkiewicz made amends for his earlier miss by putting the visitors ahead in the 18th minute.

The Blues exploited some sloppy defending by the Tigers who failed to close down Cody Dramah before he could fling in a cross from the right, and Jutkiewicz was in the right place at the right time, entirely free to leap and plant a bullet header past Allsop from eight yards. It was a textbook cross/header combo – and it sparked the already loud Blues fans into full voice, although it was perhaps a tad too early to be announcing that they were “mauling” the Tigers…

Seconds later, a shot from Siriki Dembélé hit the crossbar – as it was looking very much like the Blues wanted this more than the Tigers, with the post-Rooney bounce also clearly evident.

City did put a bit of pressure on them just before the half-hour mark, though – winning a couple of corners in quick succession, one of those from a low shot by the hard-working Greg Docherty that keeper Neil Etheridge just failed to keep inside the line at the near post.

In the 35th minute, Allahyar scuffed a shot just wide of the left post after an impressive run into the box by Harry Vaughan.

After the referee waved away strong appeals for handball in the Blues’ area, Jutkiewicz was booked for a foul on Scott Twine about 30 yards out. Twine stepped up to take the free kick, but instead of firing it goalwards, there was a one-two with Jason Lokilo and Twine’s eventual punt into the area was easily cleared.

A goalbound shot from Docherty, after another good run from Vaughan into the box, was sidefooted out by Dion Sanderson in the 40th minute. City were definitely finishing the half the brighter, but clear-cut chances looked few and far between.

Sanderson was then booked for obstructing Vaughan in a similar position from the previous free kick, this time on the left, and this time Twine did go direct – but again it was only met by the head of a Blues defender. 

The Tigers began the second half as positively as they’d finished the first, but still the Blues defended resolutely, and looked the more likely to score on the counterattack. Sanderson forced a save from Allsop in the 50th minute.

Dembélé was booked for a foul in the 57th minute, yielding yet another long-range free kick opportunity into the danger area for Twine, but again this one was easily cleared.

That would be Twine’s last act, as he was brought off for Ozan Tufan, while Docherty was replaced by Tyler Morton (his three-match ban rescinded after the red card that never was at Hillsborough). It was the second of the trio of substitutes raised the most noise, though, as it was Sharp making his first appearance in black-and-amber – coming on to loud applause in place of Jason Lokilo.

Sharp’s first move of note was to fire a great ball in from the right side of the box, but no one could capitalise on it. Shortly afterwards, Connolly charged down the left side of the box but was crowded out and the ball ended up safely in the hands of Etheridge.

Then, in the 65th minute, Allsop lofted a long ball right over the top of everyone, which found Connolly ahead of the defence. He attempted a chip over the keeper, Tufan-style, as the home crowd sprang into life – but it went well wide of the right post. A minute later, Connolly shot straight at Etheridge, as the Tigers began to take things up a notch, and the home fans responded in kind.

A classic bit of timewasting by Etheridge – a bit early, but there you are – earned him a booking in the 75th minute, but the play at this point was largely in the Blues’ half. You could see Sharp in the middle almost crying out for a ball to his feet, but it wasn’t coming.

With 10 minutes to go, Allahyar found Vaughan on the edge of the area, but he ballooned his shot skywards. Allahyar was then replaced by Tyrell Sellars-Fleming.

Then, with three minutes of normal time to go, it was Jacob who ensured a return trip to St Andrews. Tufan, on the edge of the area in the middle, spread it wide to Connolly, who fired it back in – Etheridge spilled it, and Jacob was there to pounce from a couple of yards out.

This bit of late drama fired both sets of fans up, as both teams pressed for the winner in the dying minutes – but it remained all square.

All eyes will be on the draw on Monday – but whoever the potential fourth-round opposition, the Tigers now have another chance to show what they’re capable of.