by William Young, To Hull and Back podcast
Hull City 4
Derby County 2
Hull City signed off their run of five home games in a row with victory over play-off chasers Derby County in a topsy turvy game at the MKM Stadium.
Tigers gaffer Sergej Jakirović made two changes, as Kyle Joseph and Charlie Hughes came back into the side, while Matt Crooks returned to the bench after an injury layoff.
In the early stages, City came out of the blocks and dominated the opening minutes, and got their reward after ten minutes, when a corner from the Tigers was met by ex-Tiger Callum Elder – unfortunately for him, he put the ball into his own net and did his previous employers a favour.
The Tigers remained on top and pushed Derby back, but were unable to push their advantage, and in typical City fashion, they threw the lead away, when a Derby corner was poorly cleared and recycled, and after a shot from distance, Ivor Pandur’s save fell to Craig Forsyth, who had a tap-in from close range to level the scores up.
After the equaliser, the visitors, going into the game as the best away side in the division, began to get on top and really harass the Tigers.
But, like City before them, they couldn’t make their pressure count, as five minutes before the break, a poor pass out from Elder fell to Joe Gelhardt, who found Oli McBurnie rushing into the box. He turned his man expertly before smashing the ball past Vickers in the Derby goal to give City the lead once again.
However, that lead would not last long, as almost immediately, Derby levelled, when poor defending allowed Patrick Agyemang to cross. Pandur parried, but again it fell to Derby feet, this time Sammie Szmodics, who turned the ball into the net to send the sides into the break level at 2-2.
The second half didn’t start well for City either, as moments into it, full-back Ryan Giles appeared to pull his hamstring, a big blow for the Tigers.
The game became a feisty affair, the blue touchpaper being lighted by a fracas involving Lewie Coyle and several Derby players, with Regan Slater defending his captain. The crowd got up, and the atmosphere built and built.
Though the Tigers’ blood was up, the visitors still threatened, and saw a great chance go begging when good interplay from the Rams released Bobby Clark into the box, but his effort one-on-one with Pandur was denied by the Croatian stopper.
The end-to-end nature of the game began to creep back, and with a quarter of an hour left, the Tigers pounced – great wide play released McBurnie inside the box, who quickly turned and passed to John Egan, still up from a set-piece. He turned his man inside the box and coolly slotted the ball home like a seasoned striker, sending the MKM into raptures.
Derby continued to threaten, however, and a big chance again went begging, as Derry Murkin burst through on City’s right and crossed to Carlton Morris, fresh off the bench – but the Derby forward sent his close-range effort high and wide.
Morris’s miss would prove huge, as about a minute later, a long ball found Joseph, who flicked onwards to the rushing Lewis Koumas, fresh off the bench.
He raced through on goal with the ball and slotted past Vickers to give City their fourth and put themselves in pole position, to the sound of delirium from the City fans.
The Tigers held their nerve in the closing stages and kept Derby at bay despite the visitors going into full siege mode, and the full-time whistle soon rang out to make sure the three points remained in East Yorkshire, bringing the Tigers back to winning ways.
So, City finally stepped up when most necessary, and maintained their gap over the chasing play-off pack. Hopefully it continues going into the spring.