City unable to break down the Millers in front of bumper crowd
Pictures courtesy of Hull City
Hull City 0 - 0 Rotherham United
Sky Bet Championship
MKM Stadium
Attendance: 23, 432
By Sam Hawcroft, Hull City Correspondent
Playing in front of their biggest home crowd in six years, the Tigers just couldn’t find a way past relegation-threatened Rotherham, who celebrated this largely pedestrian goalless draw like it was a win.
The build-up to this match had snowballed in its intensity during the past week, as thousands upon thousands booked tickets for what was always going to be a dead-rubber – for the Tigers, at any rate.
The more cynical fans had predicted a TypicalCity scenario – in which the performance is inversely proportional to the anticipation… and so it came to pass.
In the early stages, the Tigers soaked up by far the majority of the possession with a couple of hints of attacking threat, and some clever through balls, but it wasn’t until the 15th minute that a shot came – from Regan Slater, who put it about a foot wide of the left post, from about 18 yards.
A few minutes later, City had to deal with a dangerous cross flung into their box, but chances were few and far between, and even at this point the game felt like it had 0-0 written all over it.
Rotherham won their first corner in the 20th minute, which was dealt with by Lewie Coyle and then Jacob Greaves, but barely a couple of minutes later the Millers had two more corners in quick succession as they enjoyed their first real period of possession.
In the 27th minute, though, the Tigers really should have been ahead.
Adama Traore played in Ryan Longman in a great position about eight yards out – but he shot straight at Millers keeper Viktor Johannsson, who came out well to intercept him. Had Longman pulled the trigger seconds earlier… Had this been Oscar in this position…
Allahyar dragged a shot wide in the 35th minute, and moments later forced a corner. Jordan Hugill and Alfie Jones ended up prone on the turf after clashing with each other in the area, leading to a delay in play, but both recovered to continue.
In first-half injury time, Lee Peltier saw his cross easily held by Darlow.
Ozan Tufan replaced Longman in the 52nd minute, and about four minutes later he came close to opening the scoring. A great move saw a clever backheel from Traore find Coyle on the right, and he crossed to Allahyar on the left of the area. He played in Tufan, who attempted a bit of acrobatics – but his bicycle kick missed the target.
Moments later at the other end, Darlow fumbled in the air and Hugill latched on to it, but he could only hook it over the empty goal. It was Rotherham’s best chance – and one of just four shots they could muster in the entire game.
Just past the hour, another glorious chance went begging, after another great cross from Coyle found Tufan – but his shot cannoned off the underside of the crossbar.
At last, though, things were livening up a little. After City won another corner, Ebiowei squared up to Jamie Lindsay after feeling that he had been fouled, but the referee waved away his appeals.
In the 74th minute, a shot from Ebiowei took a big deflection just wide of the right post. From the corner, Johansson swatted at it to put it out for another – but still City couldn’t find that killer final ball.
Four minutes later, City went on the counterattack after a Rotherham corner, and Tufan played Traore clean through on goal. As he advanced down the pitch and towards the penalty area, he was brought down by substitute Domingos Quina – who could have few complaints about the resulting red card.
Frustratingly for City, though, the foul was no more than an inch or two from the penalty area. Ebiowei stepped up to take the free kick, as the crowd reached fever pitch… and then ballooned it yards over. It was going to be one of those afternoons.
Coyle was later tripped in the area, and the South Stand fans were up in arms – but the offside flag had been raised just as he made his run.
As six minutes of injury time were announced, City practically camped themselves in Rotherham’s half. Tufan shot wide, before an unmarked Jones shot well over from a great position in the centre of the box.
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In the dying seconds, at the other end, Conor Washington saw his shot flash across the face of goal and roll a couple of feet wide of the left post – had that gone in, that really would have capped the, er, typicalest of TypicalCity performances.
A late goal would have ripped the roof off – but it was not to be. And the main takeaway from this less-than-memorable match has to be a positive one – the fact that nearly 23,500 people turned out to watch it in the first place.
Owner Acun Ilicali and his team are to be applauded for the initiatives that made this possible, including free tickets for local youth football teams, and, in a wider sense, creating a positive vibe around the club that’s been sorely lacking in the past decade; putting the fans at the heart of everything and making them feel wanted and appreciated.
Long after this bore draw fades from memory, this is what will remain.