Oscar salvages point for City against 10-man Tangerines

Pictures courtesy of Hull City

Hull City 1 - 1 Blackpool

Sky Bet Championship

Attendance: 19,170

By Sam Hawcroft, Hull City Correspondent

A 1-1 draw with relegation rivals Blackpool wasn’t quite the Christmas present that a bumper Boxing Day crowd at the MKM Stadium were hoping for, but most of them will surely be relieved that the outcome wasn’t far worse after an entertaining but less than convincing display by the Tigers.  

Liam Rosenior’s teamsheet signalled an attacking intent from the off, but even before a ball was kicked it raised questions over the stability of the defence, especially given the new manager’s desire to stick to the “play out from the back” strategy.

And, sure enough, before the first minute had ticked down, City burst out of the traps, with promising work from Ryan Woods and Cyrus Christie before Ryan Longman put a shot wide. But just seconds later, there were a few dicey moments at the other end, the obvious hole in this attacking setup becoming worryingly clear. A few too many passes were fizzing a bit close across the Tigers’ goal for comfort.

City won their first corner in the fourth minute, but it was easily cleared by Blackpool. Three minutes later it was the Tangerines’ turn to register their first corner, and City cleared the danger in similar fashion.

Around the 10-minute mark, City began to take a firmer grip on things and they dominated play for much of the next 20 minutes. Alfie Jones’s side-footed close-range effort was deflected behind after a corner, and in the 17th minute Ozan Tufan did well to chase down the ball and keep it in play on the right. He put it back in towards Regan Slater, who left it for Longman on the left, but his strong shot went wide of the target.

A couple of minutes later, Blackpool did win themselves a corner, from which Gary Madine headed over, but it was a rare chance. Soon after, Luke Garbutt was booked for a crunching tackle on Tufan.

Slater then made a storming run into the box before it fell to Oscar Estupinan, who stumbled in the area before managing to get back on his feet and play in Tufan. He put a neat touch back into Slater, but he skied his shot.

However, just before the half-hour, yet again City pressed the self-destruct button in front of a huge home following.

After Jerry Yates had fouled Matt Ingram, the City keeper stayed down for a few moments before recovering to take the free kick.

What happened next was the ultimate example in how not to “play it out from the back”. A poor pass from Ingram to Woods ended up gifting the ball Sonny Carey, whose 20-yard strike beat Ingram all ends up.

Cue mass shaking of heads in the home ends, in disbelief that City could be behind after so much promising build-up, and yet completely unsurprised at the same time. Such a thing is possible. Schroedinger’s goal?

But the Tigers went back on the attack, and shortly after there were chances from Oscar, who headed on to the underside of the bar from a free kick, and Christie, missing the target from six yards.

With a couple of minutes to go before half-time, an unmarked Oscar headed over from a good position after being played in by Slater on the right.

The Tigers walked back down the tunnel to a middling chorus of boos, the majority of fans still rightly giving Rosenior the benefit of the doubt.  

Almost immediately after the restart, City found themselves defending a free kick just outside the area, but they managed to clear the initial kick and the rebound.

But then came the turning point.

Oscar latched on to the ball midway into the Blackpool half, chased by half-time substitute Jordan Thorniley, who flung himself desperately into the Colombian’s path and brought him down. Professional foul, with only one outcome – straight red for Thorniley, his appearance lasting all of about seven minutes.

The resulting free kick was given inches outside the area, in a central position. Tufan stepped up… and skied it over the bar – but the miss wasn’t greeted with too much derision as, surely, the Tigers had the upper hand now, and it would only be a matter of time before they could grab an equaliser.

There was a huge cheer for the return of Allahyar Sayyadmanesh on the hour, coming on with Lewie Coyle and Dogukan Sinik (replacing Woods, Christie and Longman) – and within seconds Allahyar had won a corner. There was a goalmouth scramble, with Jacob Greaves getting a good touch, before the offside flag went up.

Incredibly, though, Blackpool were nearly 2-0 up a few minutes later after a mistake by Coyle handed a glorious chance to Carey on a plate, but his shot was batted away strongly by Ingram, and Yates’s follow-up was deflected wide. Major phew.

Jake Beasley was then clean through on goal, but Coyle put in a great tackle to deny him – before City had it back up the other end, winning yet another corner, from which Tufan shot agonisingly wide of the right post.

A 30-yard shot by Sinik was deflected out as the clock hit 70, and the Tigers upped the pressure. Oscar blazed over three minutes later, before Tyler Smith came on to replace Jones.

Then, in the 77th minute, City finally got the goal that had felt so long in coming.

Coyle, about 25 yards out, lofted the ball to Oscar who was hanging about near the six-yard area. As he tends to do, he leapt highest and got his head to it – and planted it over a diving Daniel Grimshaw.

The danger wasn’t over for City, though, as Blackpool surged forward. In the 81st minute, Callum Connolly, in the centre of the box, headed wide, and with just three minutes to go, the Tigers were at sixes and sevens in their own area yet again. Ingram had come charging out and clattered Carey in the process; Blackpool’s management were up in arms, but no penalty, just a corner, was the outcome.

Yates had a shot blocked and Carey missed the target as tempers flared on both sides, and in the middle of five minutes of injury time Tufan put it well over from City’s 11th and final corner of the game.

Passing out from the back does rely on players being good enough to pull this off, and it’s arguable that at the moment this doesn’t appear to be the case. But while they’re not hitting the target enough, the Tigers are creating chances, and Rosenior must be given a chance to deliver on his ambitions. We should look to 2023 with hope – but a fair bit of patience, too.