Lacklustre Tigers out of play-off places after Swansea defeat
Hull City 0 - 1 Swansea City
Sky Bet Championship
MKM Stadium
Attendance: 21,017
By Sam Hawcroft, Hull City Correspondent
Hull City were undone by a single early goal as a desperately poor performance ensured all three points went to South Wales.
For all the hype surrounding Jaden Philogene and new loan stars Anass Zaroury and Fabio Carvalho, they barely got a look-in on an afternoon devoid of invention and excitement.
Swansea, in their bright cerise away strip, really were in the pink on the final whistle, having outplayed the Tigers in pretty much every department and fully deserving what looks like a narrow victory on paper.
The match had begun in solemn circumstances, with a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Gaul trawler tragedy.
Before kick-off, a short video was played, in which Tigers stars filmed at St Andrew’s Dock read lines from the hymn, Eternal Father, Strong to Save, before a well-observed 36-second silence to honour all 36 crew on the trawler, which sailed out of Hull on January 22, 1974, and never came home.
A striking mural by artist Andy Pea had also been commissioned on the side of the West Stand, and the matchday programme had a black wraparound cover which, on the front, read simply, “In memory of the gallant crew of the M. T. Gaul”, and, on the back, the names of all 36 men.
This the sort of class that we have now become accustomed to at Hull City, whose media team continue to hit just the right tone. The players may continue to frustrate fans on the pitch, but at long last, this club feels like an intrinsic, important part of its community once more.
It was a fairly scrappy start to the first few minutes of the match, the first moment of danger coming from the Swans, as ex-Tiger Josh Tymon flung in a cross from the left that fizzed across goal – but fortunately for City, Liam Cullen couldn’t meet it near the far post.
A couple of minutes later, the first corner went the Swans’ way – and it proved to be the turning point of the game.
Taking the corner kick, Tymon directed it low along the ground towards the centre of the area, and it was met by the unmarked Cullen, who popped it home from about seven yards. Way, way too easy – and it killed what little atmosphere there had been, on this grey, foggy afternoon, stone dead.
City had a couple of forays into Swansea’s area after that, but it was the Welsh side who looked far more dangerous on the attack, and in the 22nd minute they came close again as a great cross from Ronald Pereira Martins found Przemysław Płacheta in the area, but his header was misdirected. It was a big let-off for the Tigers.
A few minutes later, Tyler Morton was booked for a foul on Jamie Paterson, much to the anger of the fans in E4 right in front of the incident who clearly felt the Swansea man played for it. Nothing came from the resulting free kick, though.
A snap header from an unmarked Ozan Tufan was, unfortunately, right down the throat of keeper Carl Rushworth on the half-hour – it was City’s first effort of the afternoon, and he could perhaps have taken a bit more time with it.
In the 37th minute, Ben Cabango was booked for cynically holding on to Philogene as he raced towards the box, but Ryan Giles’s resulting free kick from about 30 yards out failed to cause any bother in the Swans’ defence.
A couple of minutes before half-time, Carvalho linked up with Philogene who did well to hold off a crowd of pink shirts, but in the end Swansea were able to clear.
Then Lewie Coyle ended up second in a race with Płacheta down the left – but the Pole was devoid of options in the box and could only take it on himself, hitting the side netting from an acute angle.
Carvalho shot just wide as two minutes of first-half added time were announced, briefly raising hopes that the Tigers would find a spark in the next 45. Perhaps surprisingly, there were no changes made by Liam Rosenior at the break.
In the 53rd minute, Płacheta shot straight at Ryan Allsop from the left of the area – a reminder, if it were needed, that the Swans were well capable of extending their lead.
City were sorely in need of a bit more direct approach – and that was introduced in the shape of veteran Billy Sharp, someone who knows where the goal is (an understatement, of course – he’s the Championship’s all-time top scorer). It could be argued he’s not been given enough of a chance thus far. And it was captain Coyle who made way for Sharp, with Jacob Greaves taking the armband.
In the 57th minute, Sharp was nearly in, as he latched on to the ball with Rushworth well out of his area. Sharp pulled the trigger – but Nathan Wood had given chase and was able to prevent it rolling over the line. This sparked an immediate roar from the home crowd.
However, Swansea fluffed another great chance to double their lead in the 61st minute after Cullen fired wide from eight yards out. The striker could only put his head in his hands in despair, as that truly would have been game over.
Tufan and Zaroury were replaced by Adama Traoré and Aaron Connolly in the 68th minute, but it did still look like the Swans would be more likely to go further ahead, as a shot from the left by Tymon was turned behind by Allsop.
Matt Grimes waited to take the corner as the injured Kyle Naughton limped off the field, but when he did finally take it, it was met by Paterson who ballooned it well over from about 20 yards.
With 15 minutes left to play, new signing Abdüş Ömür made his debut for the Tigers, replacing Carvalho – and one of the first touches of the so-called “Turkish Messi” was to play in Sharp on the right. With Swansea’s defence looking all at sea, Sharp passed it to Philogene who tried to shoot from near the byline on the left, but Rushworth managed to get himself in the way.
As is always the way, the denouement was all a bit “too little, too late” as the Tigers tried to find the equaliser in the last 10 minutes.
It was reminiscent of the frantic dying moments of a cup match between a non-league side and a Premier League outfit as, deep into the five minutes of added time, Allsop ran up to the Swansea box and stayed there among the melée almost until the final whistle. There wasn’t anything to lose by this point, of course.
It would have been a bit of a story, and the home fans would have gone bananas, had the former Cardiff keeper bagged a leveller against the Blues’ deadly rivals, but… it all felt a bit… tinpot, really – and something of a damning indictment of the shot-shy superstars surrounding him.
City have been yo-yoing in and out of the top six for weeks, and they’ve slipped back to seventh again. They need to find some consistency – and fast.
