City held at home by the Robins
Pictures courtesy of Hull City
Hull City 1 - 1 Bristol City
Sky Bet Championship
MKM Stadium
Attendance: 19,491
By Sam Hawcroft, Hull City Correspondent
Hull City could have topped the Championship tonight – but had to settle for a point despite taking an early lead against Bristol City.
Some of the 19,491 inside the MKM Stadium for this Friday night clash might have hoped for a “big reveal” on the pitch ahead of kick-off, given the feverish speculation over imminent new signings, but in the event Liam Rosenior named an unchanged side from that which made heavy weather of overcoming 10-men Blackburn last Saturday.
The architect of that victory, Aaron Connolly, started on the bench again, joined by Ruben Vinagre and Allahyar Sayyadmanesh returning from injury, though neither would play a part tonight.
Both sides started proceedings fairly cagily, though City’s first corner came in the sixth minute after Scott Twine – on his home debut – did well to play in Ozan Tufan who was challenged on the byline
Three minutes later, Joe Williams was fouled about 30 yards out by Jacob Greaves, who was (somewhat harshly) booked for the challenge. Jason Knight’s header from Matty James’s resulting free kick was comfortably held by Matt Ingram.
The Tigers began to hit their stride as the quarter-hour approached. An impressive long ball from Greaves found Twine, unfortunately just offside. City’s first real threat came in the 14th minute as Jean Michaël Seri played in Adama Traoré, who hit the side netting from the right-hand side of the penalty area. Tufan then scuffed a 15-yard shot that was easily saved by Max O’Leary.
Barely a couple of minutes later, though, Tufan wrapped his foot around it good and proper. Liam Delap raced down the right and placed an inch-perfect cross that missed one, two, then three Bristol defenders and landed at the feet of Tufan, who could hardly miss, sidefooting it deftly from near the penalty spot into the back of the net. It was one of those goals where you almost knew it was going in before he even touched the ball. Cross, strike – boom! 1-0, and Tufan’s fourth goal of the season.
For a while after this, City looked dominant, and as though another hatful of goals would follow, as per the previous home match against a decidedly shaky Sheffield Wednesday. In the 18th minute, Seri played in Traore, who took a pot-shot at O’Leary but he held well.
A dicey moment in defence for the Tigers was soon transformed into a counterattack as Delap picked up the ball and played in Tufan, but he was caught in a collision with a Bristol City defender. He remained on the deck for a while as boos rang out from the home stands, angry at the Robins’ intent to carry on – but Tufan soon recovered, none the worse for the ordeal.
In the 24th minute, an unfortunate cannon off referee James Linington resulted in a free kick for the Robins near the halfway line, and it was this that seemed to precipitate their first-half fightback.
The first moment of real danger from Bristol came a couple of minutes later when Mark Sykes blasted over from just a few yards out.
Now they were galvanised, and a pretty relentless spell of pressure followed. They were nearly in again on the half-hour as a goalbound shot from Nahki Wells was blocked, and then Joe Williams shot over from 12 yards.
Ingram did well to hold on to a cross from Sykes in the 35th minute, as Bristol were peppering shots at City’s goal. George Tanner had a shot cleared off the line by Jones, and Knight saw an effort blocked and a header go wide.
Bristol City’s first corner came in the 37th minute, and there were a few more heartstopping moments before City finally managed to clear their lines – they needed to calm things down, and quickly.
Up the other end (for once!) Twine was fouled near the left-hand corner of the box in the 40th minute and it caused all sorts of problems in the Bristol defence as the ex-Burnley man whipped it towards the back post. It hit the woodwork and Jones very nearly put it over the line but it was smothered by O’Leary.
In the third minute of first-half injury time it looked like the equaliser had finally come, as Wells fired the ball into the net from a through ball by Knight. The referee went over to the linesman and it seemed like an age before he finally raised the offside flag, to the relief of the home fans. What a let-off!
After the restart, Bristol City straightaway signalled their intent to keep up the pressure, winning corners in succession within a couple of minutes. From the second, Knight rose to head wide of the right post.
Shortly after, Sam Bell fizzed a cross across the box, but fortunately for City there were no Robins there to meet it.
As the hour approached, City had succeeded in calming things down a bit and they enjoyed a promising spell in front of goal – but nothing much was forthcoming in the way of shots on target.
Enter Aaron Connolly and Oscar Estupinan, with Delap and Tufan making way, the latter warmly embraced by his manager as he left the field. Given Connolly’s exploits last week, the second goal was surely imminent.
Well, yes it was. But at the wrong end. Barely a minute after the personnel change, in the 62nd minute the Robins carved open City’s defence and Wells slotted in from close range.
Moments later Bristol City were very nearly in the lead but Ingram smothered another close-range effort from Wells, who was then booked for tangling with City’s keeper as he tried to hold on to the ball.
In the 65th minute, Seri was felled just outside the area in central position. Twine – a dead ball specialist – stepped up to take the free kick, and forced a great save from O’Leary who tipped it over the bar.
Five minutes later, Connolly passed up a golden chance to put the Tigers back into the lead when, racing on to a fantastic through ball from Regan Slater, he shot straight at O’Leary, who, in fairness, had come out well to meet him.
Harry Vaughan came on for Traoré in the 75th minute, as Twine was waiting to take another free kick about 30 yards out on the right, but it was nodded out by a Bristol defender for a corner.
Bristol substitute Taylor Gardner-Hickman was booked for clattering Connolly in the 82nd minute as the Irishman advanced down the left, but the Robins cleared the danger from the resulting free kick.
Moments later, Oscar shot from about 20 yards, but it was comfortably held by O’Leary.
With a couple of minutes of normal time to play, Lewie Coyle made way for Cyrus Christie. Despite the match being poised at 1-1, there didn’t seem to be a great deal of urgency from either side to grab the winner in the latter stages of the game.
Then, however, six minutes of added time was announced, just as Connolly drew a save out of O’Leary – and the noise around the stadium lifted a notch.
Bristol weren’t done yet either, as they mounted an assault on the Tigers’ goal in the 92nd minute, sparked by substitute Harry Cornick charging down the left, leaving Jones in his wake.
Vaughan tried to do similar with seconds left to play, but he was snuffed out. And, with 96 minutes on the clock, Bristol City won a corner… but the ball was plucked from the air by Ingram – and that was that.
It was an encounter that was entertaining and frustrating in varying measures, but a more than fair result which leaves the Tigers in sixth and still – for now – just about under the radar of the national pundits. But all that’s likely to change when those new signings are confirmed… exciting times ahead, that’s for sure.