Woeful City sink to new low against Luton to raise relegation fears

Pictures courtesy of Hull City

Hull City 0 - 1 Luton Town

Sky Bet Championship

MKM Stadium

Attendance: 23,005

By Sam Hawcroft, Hull City Correspondent

The Tigers are right back in the relegation mire after another desperately poor show at the MKM Stadium, going down to a freak own goal seconds after the restart.

While the winning goal was sheer bad fortune, the Tigers could muster nothing in reply against a physical but otherwise equally pedestrian opponent. This was a “0-0 written all over it” match that City somehow still managed to lose, and it demonstrated yet again how they seem to lose all momentum after international breaks.

Rubén Sellés made three changes from the gritty 1-1 draw at West Brom that now feels an age ago, with Gustavo Puerta, Abu Kamara and Kasey Palmer coming in for Regan Slater, Matt Crooks and Mason Burstow.

Luton seemed to hit their stride early on, with a couple of good chances – Elijah Adebayo came so close to bagging the opener in the seventh minute, hitting the bottom of the post with Pandur beaten.

Then, from a corner by Joe Gelhardt that only met the first man, Luton were down the other end in a flash. Palmer was lucky to avoid a booking after a challenge that resulted in a free kick about 30 yards out on the left – from which Carlton Morris beat the offside trap but sidefooted it wide.

Kamara made a great run to the byline and cut it back, but there was no one in the box to capitalise on it – something that would prove the story of the afternoon, really. A litany of frustrating misplaced passes and tame shots.

For about ten minutes in the middle of the half, the Tigers soaked up the possession and pressure. There came three corners in succession at one point, but Hatters keeper Thomas Kaminski was rarely under any real threat.

In the 28th minute, another corner was taken by Puerta, which he flung into the box – it momentarily caused a bit of chaos in the Luton box before it was cleared.

A couple of minutes later, Kamara shot a yard or so wide but the Tigers still hadn’t found their rhythm and the atmosphere grew increasingly nervy, both on the pitch and in the stands.

It’s been said many times before, but City’s home form is such that it’s now become a vicious circle from which there seems to be no escape – uninspiring play kills the atmosphere; dead atmosphere fails to inspire the players.

That said, the home fans do try their best to raise the tempo, especially when there is anything at all to shout about, and towards the end of the first half City were beginning to look a little bit more lively.

In the 38th minute, Steven Alzate played in Gelhardt, who raced into the left side of the box but just ran out of steam – amid half-hearted cries for a penalty from the North Stand.

Probably City’s best chance thus far was a powerful goalbound shot from Palmer being blocked a few minutes before the interval.

A big second half to come, then… but any hopes of City upping the ante were blown apart just 18 seconds in, and in the worst possible way.

Kaminski lumped it forward, and it was flicked towards the area. Lewie Coyle raced into the box and attempted to clear, but the ball struck Alfie Jones in the face and rebounded past a helpless Ivor Pandur. A calamitous sequence of events, and just the sort of rotten luck that you get when you’re already down and struggling to get back up off the canvas.

It clearly rocked the Tigers, who struggled to make much headway as the rest of the half played out, and there’s really not much of note to put on record here.

In the 55th minute, a promising attack by City concluded with a floating cross from the left by Alzate that was easily claimed by Kaminski.

As the hour approached, the frustration was building – the Tigers were just not firing on all (or any?) cylinders. Kyle Joseph, who had struggled to make much impact on the game, found himself with a great opportunity to put City ahead from about six yards out, but he took one touch too many and Kaminski was able to pounce on it.

Shortly afterwards, Sellés made his first substitutions, Matt Crooks and Lincoln coming on for Joseph and Palmer.

However, the Tigers were looking less and less likely to level matters as Luton kept up the pressure as the half went on. Puerta headed over the bar in the 71st minute but, by and large, City were being outmuscled.

A few minutes later, a tame shot by Kamara from the edge of the area was claimed by Kaminski. The Tigers were stringing together the odd attack but few if any of their moves were all that convincing.

Nordin Amrabat replaced Puerta in the 76th minute; up to now the experienced Moroccan had enjoyed entertaining cameo roles – could he bring anything to the dying minutes of this clash?

In the 84th minute he did well to hold off his man and cut the ball back from the byline, before Coyle attempted to do the same, but a goal kick was the result.

This encounter was petering out at an alarming rate, and in the last five minutes of normal time Luton pressed again. At the other end, Kamara put in a low cross across goal, but it was well beyond Amrabat – cue groans from the home fans and more of them leaving from the exits. You could not blame them – it did not look like the equaliser was coming in a month of Sundays.

Deep into the five minutes’ added time… finally, a decent shot!

Charlie Hughes, the ball at his feet and in space about 20 yards out, heeded the fans’ pleas to hit it – he did so, and forced a good leaping save from Kaminski. That would have been a fantastic way to save what was up there with one of the worst matches at home this season – but the final whistle came, and with it a chorus of boos, mainly out of exasperation at City bottling this chance to take a big step towards safety.

Any positives? Well, today’s match was a “takeover” by the Tigers Trust charity, which does some fantastic work in the community – and we must give a shout out to the young man who gave PA announcer Dan Briggs a run for his money on the microphone. Sign him up!