Battling Tigers knocked out of FA Cup by Fulham

Pictures courtesy of Hull City

Hull City 0 - 2 Fulham

Emirates FA Cup

Attendance: 14,175

By Sam Hawcroft, Hull City Correspondent

Many people will have looked at today’s scoreline and thought – “Premier League side easily overcomes Championship opposition in straightforward 2-0 defeat.”

But it wasn’t quite like that. The Tigers more than matched their lofty opponents for much of this FA Cup third-round encounter, and were unlucky not to have taken the lead within the first five minutes. The second goal only came in the dying seconds of added time once the game was well and truly out of City’s reach and they’d left everything including the kitchen sink, and more importantly their goalkeeper, well up the other end of the field.

The Tigers had gone into this match on a wave of positivity after an impressive festive period without defeat, an announcement by the club that away coach travel would be free for the rest of the season from next month, and the signing of young Irish forward Aaron Connolly on loan from Brighton.

And they started the game positively, too. It was a much-changed side from the one that beat Wigan 4-1 on bank holiday Monday, with no Sinik or Seri, but the first 11 included loanees Harvey Vale and Xavier Simons, and Benjamin Tetteh started on the bench after being out of action since September.

Vale had a glorious chance to put City ahead after just over three minutes, when he found himself through on goal after Bobby Decordova-Reid failed to deal with a long punt from Lewie Coyle. One-on-one with keeper Marek Rodak, Vale put it wide of the target. It was a sitter that will no doubt haunt him for some time to come, and it appeared to affect him afterwards, with a few poor first touches and wayward passes.

In the seventh minute, with Fulham again looking a bit hesitant at the back, Ozan Tufan latched on to the ball and put in a good pass to Docherty in the centre. He let it run through to Coyle, whose 20-yard shot was pushed wide by Rodak.

It was 15 minutes before Fulham won their first corner, but they continued to surrender possession.

Simons flashed a ball across goal from the right, with Tyler Smith advancing. He failed to connect with the ball, and the flag had been raised anyway, but still – worrying times for the Cottagers at this stage, who were being frustrated by the Tigers.

In the 28th minute, there was more good work from Coyle, who evaded his marker and played in Docherty, but he shot well over from 20 yards.

The first real moment of danger for the Tigers came just after the half-hour, when they failed to clear their lines and Carlos Vinicius, in a central position in the box, unselfishly teed up Andreas Pereira behind him. His 20-yard effort was tipped over the bar by Matt Ingram.

A few minutes later, a mistake by Callum Elder nearly allowed Harry Wilson a chance to shoot, but the City defender recovered to block him, before an unmarked Pereira sliced another shot wide from about 15 yards.

Fulham were finishing the half by far the most dominant, as though they’d just flicked a switch, and they were suddenly bombarding the Tigers’ area in wave after wave.

And in the 37th minute they made this pressure count, as a great shot from Wilson near the right-hand corner of the box was well kept out by the diving Ingram, only for Layvin Kurzawa to bundle in the rebound off the right post. There were futile appeals for offside from City and the North Stand fans behind them – but replays showed that the goal was indeed onside.

The second half started fairly cagily, the first real chance falling to Fulham, as ex-Tiger Tom Cairney shot just over from 25 yards in the 54th minute.

Moments later, a nicely weighted ball from the left by Vale was just cut out before it met its intended target, Smith, advancing towards the six-yard area.

In the 57th minute, after the pacy Daniel James did well to force a corner, Decordova-Reid headed high and wide from about eight yards.

Liam Rosenior made his first changes on the hour-mark, with Tufan making way for Regan Slater and new boy Connolly replacing Vale.

Fulham keeper Rodak plucked a ball from Smith, now playing wide, out of the air and smothered the ball as Connolly advanced, but it was the Cottagers’ turn to frustrate the Tigers now. As City defended another Fulham corner, Oscar Estupinan and Tetteh were waiting on the sidelines, but they’d have to wait a few more minutes before play eventually stopped for a City free kick near the halfway line.

Smith and Simons made way, the reception from the home stands especially loud for the returning Tetteh. Fulham made a double substitution too, as the Tigers began throwing caution to the wind for the last 20 minutes or so, their chances of forcing a replay at Craven Cottage fast dwindling.

Tetteh was instrumental in an attacking spell that nearly saw Oscar through on goal, but the flag was raised again. It could be argued, though, that the Tigers were guilty of stringing together a few too many passes around Fulham’s area, when the more urgent direct approach was called for at this point.

With 10 minutes to go, James forced a save from Ingram, diving low to his left, before Slater gave away a free kick on the byline, but City managed to clear the danger.

Youngster Callum Jones then made his first appearance for a year, replacing Docherty, who was roundly applauded as he walked past the South Stand fans.

A couple of minutes later, Rodak did well to save from Connolly, who nodded it downwards in the six-yard area, but again the offside flag had gone up.

Two minutes from time, Ryan Woods found Sean McLoughlin, whose header was saved by Rodak, before four minutes of injury time was announced.

With the Tigers’ last throw of the dice, a long throw from Elder found Oscar, who saw his header tipped over. A couple of corners in quick succession raised the volume – but then, as often happens at the death of FA Cup games, came the killer goal on the break.

Any faint hope of nicking a replay was finally dashed as Daniel James picked up the ball near the centre circle, leaving Coyle and Jones for dust and Ingram nowhere to be seen. James gave himself just a couple of seconds to compose himself before planting the easiest tap-in he’ll probably ever score firmly in the back of the net.

So, that’s that – no cup run. It would have been nice, yes, and “concentrating on the league” is such a cliché – but that’s what Rosenior and the players will now do, having made great headway over Christmas.

Today will have given him a chance to see what some of his lesser-used squad members can do, but it’s back to reality next Saturday and a great chance to pick up more points against second-bottom Huddersfield. We are still only six points from the play-offs – maybe there’s hope of getting to Wembley yet.