Battling City earn point against high-flying Burnley

Pictures courtesy of Hull City

Hull City 1 - 1 Burnley

Sky Bet Championship

MKM Stadium

Attendance: 20,168

By Sam Hawcroft, Hull City Correspondent

Hull City had to settle for a point after taking the lead against Burnley, but it was nevertheless an encouraging, battling performance against the high-flying visitors.

It was, in the end, the stereotypical game of two halves, with the Tigers having the better of the first and the Clarets coming back to dominate much of the second.

This felt very much like progress, though, especially defensively. Hughes, the star of the show, has become an overnight fans’ favourite – the chant “Huuuuuuuuuughes” rang out every time he touched the ball as the match went on.

Manager Tim Walter made a few changes, restoring Liam Millar to the starting line-up, Regan Slater replacing the injured Marvin Mehlem, and Joao Pedro coming in ahead of Abu Kamara. However, Walter himself was not on the touchline, having been banned following his protestations to the referee after the perceived injustices against Sunderland on Sunday.

There wasn’t much doing for either side in the opening five minutes, though Millar and Burnley’s Luca Koleosho were looking among the most lively.

Zian Flemming put a very wayward shot over in the sixth minute, and soon after at the other end, a curling effort from Mohamed Belloumi grazed the fingertips of keeper James Trafford and behind for a corner.

There was a delay to the now familiar (and oft-debated) short-corner routine as Millar, who had taken a knock when challenged in the area, was down receiving treatment for a quite a few minutes.

When the corner finally came, let’s just say it didn’t go as planned. After a one-two between Belloumi and Gustavo Puerta… it was out for a goal kick. Erm…

Millar returned to the pitch, but before long he was still struggling. In the 13th minute he limped off the pitch, replaced by Kamara.

Moments later a mistake in the Burnley defence gifted Puerta possession on the edge of the box. He laid it on to Regan Slater, who unleashed a powerful shot just over the bar.

A sustained period of pressure around the quarter-hour raised the tempo in the stadium, but Burnley did well to withstand it. In the end a low cross from Kamara whizzed across the face of goal, but there was no one in black and amber to come and meet it.

City were pretty convincing at this point – the pressure was good and at times sustained. So, right about this point there should have been a goal against the run of play, according to recent scripts.

But no. They continued to hold their own and in the 26th minute, yet another poor pass from the Burnley defence gave Kamara the ball on the edge of the area. He had a golden chance to bury it, but, somewhat disappointingly, lofted it wide. He’ll surely feel he could have done better there.

It really was pretty much all City as the half-hour approached – the ball seemed to keep falling favourably for them, yet there were relatively few clear-cut chances.

Burney did have an opportunity shortly after a pass by Alfie Jones – on his 150th appearance for the Tigers – was intercepted, but a cross-shot by Joshua Cullen was easily held by Ivor Pandur.

City were then gifted another corner after a clearance from Trafford ballooned behind. Another short routine – at which there appeared to be a few murmurs of discontent from the stands – led to a melee on the edge of the six-yard area and a few half-hearted penalty shouts.

Seconds later, a strong strike from Jaidon Anthony was tipped just wide, with some City players seeming to dispute whether Pandur had touched it. From the corner, CJ Egan-Riley headed just over. A goal for Burnley at this point would have been rather out of the blue, but of course Tigers fans have become accustomed to this happening.

In the 40th minute, City were awarded a free kick outside the area, which was blocked before Jones could latch on to it.

Seconds later, Burnley managed to break and Koleosho got on the end of a chip over the defence from Egan-Riley, but his shot was innocuous and easily claimed by Pandur.

On the stroke of half-time, at last a bit of luck went City’s way – and, not only that, for once they capitalised on it.

Pressing Burnley once more, Kamara, played in by Puerta, raced into the left-hand side of the box and cut the ball back to Xavier Simons about 20 yards out. He fired in a shot, and it took a big deflection, wrong-footing Trafford and sailing beyond him into the back of the net.

Cue jubilation… and… what’s this? Goal music?! Yes – Carnival de Paris by Dario G was the tune of choice to help the Tigers faithful celebrate. Not that this should ever be needed, surely?

However, goal music is something that Walter has said he is in favour of, as it’s a big thing in Euro football, and the atmosphere inside the MKM lately has been the subject of much debate. But the atmosphere is rubbish when we’re NOT scoring, not when we are. The irony is, in his post-match press conference Walter said he hadn’t even heard it.

Anyway, a few minutes later, seconds before the half-time whistle, from another short corner an excellent downward header from Hughes went just wide of the near post.

In the second half, Burnley came out with more far intent, occupying City’s territory in the opening stages for what felt like longer than they had in the entire first 45 minutes.

In the 53rd minute, Flemming blazed well over again, prompting jeers from the North Stand behind the goal.

It was perhaps more a case of Burnley growing into the game, more than the Tigers going off the boil – but they still had their moments. Just before the first substitutions were made in the 65th minute, a close-range header from an apparently onside Puerta went just wide of the far post.

Abdüş Ömür and Bedia were the ones who replaced Pedro and Puerta.

A couple of Burnley corners followed, the first seeing the ball headed off the line by Hughes after Pandur had leapt up and missed it. There it was again: “Huuuuuuuuuuughes!!”

A good bit of Tigers pressure came around the 70th minute as Burnley struggled to clear, but in the end Belloumi’s cross drifted behind the goal. A minute or so later Belloumi, played in by a long pass from Lewie Coyle, did very well to hold on to the ball and have another go – this time a more powerful shot went a couple of yards over.

In the 77th minute, though, Burnley levelled. Anthony wrong-footed Coyle on the edge of the area, and the City captain stumbled and fell as Anthony flung a cross in from the byline. It met the head of the leaping Flemming, who planted it in from eight yards, giving Pandur no chance. Clinical stuff.

With five minutes to go and the atmosphere very much dampened since the goal, Kasey Palmer and Ryan Giles replaced Slater and Belloumi.

Towards the end a mix-up between Kamara and Ömür near the corner flag surrendered what might have been a good attacking opportunity, allowing Burnley to break and win a corner just inside the three minutes added time.

It was headed away by the first man, but the danger still wasn’t over – in the dying moments there was an almighty goalmouth melee with the ball pinballing all over the place in the six-yard area. It was Coyle who at last put it behind, but the Tigers had come alarmingly close to a heartbreaking last-minute defeat they really wouldn’t have deserved.

This was a hard-won point that showed much promise. Yes, City need to do much more in attack – but maybe they just didn’t want to hear that goal music again…