Late, late heartbreak for City against Saints

Pictures courtesy of Hull City

Hull City 1 - 2 Southampton

Sky Bet Championship

MKM Stadium

Attendance: 21,524

By Sam Hawcroft, Hull City Correspondent

The Tigers fell to their first home defeat of the season as a sickener from Southampton seconds from time punished them for their failure to take earlier chances.

The visitors had taken the lead fairly early on despite a promising start from City – something that’s become a bit too familiar lately.

The Tigers hit back almost immediately, though, and for a long time, what was an end-to-end match looked like resulting in yet another home stalemate. 

After a well-observed minute’s silence to acknowledge the lives torn apart in the Middle East, the action got under way and City won their first corner in the second minute.

A few minutes later, Jason Lokilo – in for Adama Traoré – was very nearly on the end of a cross from Jaden Philogene, but he just couldn’t jump high enough to meet it.

In the 11th minute, the first warning signs began to emerge as Ryan Allsop had to palm over a deflected pot shot from an unmarked Will Smallbone.

At the other end, Liam Delap, smartly played in by Philogene, raced past Taylor Harwood-Bellis on the left, leaving the defender for dead as he slipped on the damp turf, but he could only force a corner from the byline.  

There had been a good deal of encouraging passing play, with loads of nice triangles – but, yet again, the opposition just went down the other end and exploited the Tigers’ defensive frailties.

Kyle Walker-Peters muscled his way past Philogene towards the byline and cut the ball back perfectly to the waiting Smallbone. He made no mistake this time, firing in past Allsop from just outside the six-yard area.

However, it wasn’t long before the Tigers were level. Lokilo’s cross from the right-hand corner of the box caused chaos in the Southampton box. Liam Delap latched on to it in the middle of the area and somehow bundled it into the back of the net. Not pretty, but they all count, as they say.

A minute later, Philogene stung the fingers of Gavin Bazunu from 20 yards as the Tigers began to demonstrate a bit more of an attacking intent.

During half-time, some sad news broke – that England and Manchester United legend Sir Bobby Charlton had died, aged 86.

You might not think there’s a City connection, but some fans of a certain age may remember him gracing the turf of Boothferry Park in 1981, for Malcolm Lord’s testimonial match between a team of ex-Tigers and Roy North’s TV All-Stars. Thanks to Hull City Kits on Twitter for this intriguing nugget of history – and may Sir Bobby, a true legend and gentleman, rest in peace.

A couple of minutes after the restart, City came agonisingly close to taking the lead as close-range shots from Philogene and Delap were blocked. A floated cross from Lokilo was then bundled out at the far post, and after the resulting corner Jean Michael Seri volleyed wide.

It was end-to-end, with both sides surrendering possession on occasion. As the Tigers went on one counterattack, Lokilo fired over from an acute angle on the right-hand side of the penalty area – it had appeared to come off a Southampton man, but a goal kick was the decision.

Stuart Armstrong then shot wide, as there was a feeling that there would surely be more goals in this game.

A good period of pressure from City just before the hour mark saw Lokilo nearly in again, but moments later at the other end, the merest of fingertips from Allsop prevented an effort from Carlos Alcaraz slowly trickling into the left-hand corner.

Delap really should have put the Tigers ahead in the 63rd minute after being played clean through by Morton, but Bazunu came out well to snuff him out.

Then Liam Rosenior made his first changes – Lewie Coyle, returning Zorro-masked after his injury at Ipswich, in place of Twine, and Ozan Tufan coming on for Christie.

At this stage it still looked like anyone’s to win as a low close-range header from Smallbone was cleared by the Tigers defence in the 74th minute, before Smallbone blazed high and wide seconds later.

With 15 minutes to go, Aaron Connolly – who hadn’t seen international action last week, having been withdrawn from the Ireland squad as a precaution – replaced Lokilo.

However, in the latter stages, it was Southampton who began to gain a foothold, and in the 79th minute Allsop nearly handed them the winner on a plate – a poor clearance ending up at the feet of Stuart Armstrong, who fired over. This was the second time a short pass from Allsop had landed straight at an opposition player – a case of playing out from the back being taken a bit too literally?

Allahyar Sayyadmanesh replaced Delap with 10 minutes to go, just before City went on the counterattack again. Connolly raced ahead and squared the ball to Tufan, but he could only float the ball in from the right into the hands of Bazunu who leapt up well to claim it.

In the 86th minute, Allsop saved well from Smallbone, diving low to his left, moments before the Southampton man was substituted. A minute before time, there was a goalmouth melee in front of the North Stand, but the referee put a stop to the panic by blowing up for a foul.

Five minutes of added time were announced: and if anyone was going to break the deadlock, it looked the visitors would… and, heartbreakingly, they did, with their last attack of the game.

In much the same fashion as the first goal, this time it was Flynn Downes who cut the ball back from the byline and found substitute Ryan Fraser, who was entirely free to smash a right-foot shot past Allsop and send all three points down to the south coast.

It was a tough defeat to take – and, while the Tigers still haven’t really set the MKM Stadium on fire since the opening home victory in August, it was nevertheless their first defeat in front of the home fans this season. But there’s no getting away from it now – City lack the killer instinct, and they are going to have to find it soon if they are to arrest this current slide.