Kamara steals point but Tigers still in the mire
EQUALISER: Abu Kamara. Pictures courtesy of Hull City
Hull City 1 - 1 Coventry City
Sky Bet Championship
MKM Stadium
Attendance: 21,659
By Sam Hawcroft, Hull City Correspondent
Hull City are now looking ahead to a big Easter weekend after rescuing an unlikely point against play-off-chasing Coventry City.
On the club’s retro shirt day, many fans flocked to this Monday night match donning the variously hued garbs of bygone decades – hoping against hope, no doubt, that this game would buck the trend and deliver a performance for the ages.
As we’ve said many times, it’s the hope that kills you, as for much of this encounter it was looking like the same old dreary, tame stuff. Not that it wasn’t lively in the main, but it was the visitors who were bringing most of the entertainment.
Rubén Sellés made two changes from the limp 1-0 reverse at Watford, swapping John Egan for Alfie Jones and Kasey Palmer – against his old club – starting ahead of Matt Crooks.
The Tigers have often begun the brighter at home, only to tail off – but this time Coventry got at them from the very beginning, a wide lob from Ellis Simms an early cause for concern, before Sean McLaughlin was forced to put it wide for a corner inside the third minute.
From the set piece, Ivor Pandur pushed a free header from Haji Wright off the line. The Tigers soon had it back up the other end, but as ever, attacking opportunities were limited.
The most impressive move thus far for City was a beautiful cross-field ball from Lincoln to Joe Gelhardt on the right in the eighth minute; the latter thought he’d won a corner under a challenge but a goal kick was given, and that was that.
Moments later, Pandur saved from Simms at the near post. This encounter was already looking more of a test than the past few underwhelming games put together.
The Tigers won their first corner on the quarter-hour after a nice touch from McLaughlin found Lincoln advancing into the area. The set piece was disappointing, though, and within a flash the visitors were back in City’s box. At one point a long throw into the mix by Lincoln threatened to trouble the Sky Blues, but chances came there none.
The Sky Blues’ best effort of the half so far came in the 22nd minute when Wright had a great chance to score from 12 yards from a great cutback from Tatsuhrio Sakamoto, but he planted it straight into Pandur’s midriff.
Seconds later, Pandur was forced to save again from Wright, pushing it out for a corner.
At the other end a floating, curling cross from Captain Lewie Coyle nearly looked like it had outfoxed Bradley Collins, who was definitely the more under-employed of the two keepers; had there been a City player at the other side to meet it, he could have been in trouble, but it proved harmless in the end.
Then came the moment that will be giving Palmer nightmares for some time to come.
Regan Slater crossed in from the left – a brilliant ball to set up the onrushing Palmer in the six-yard area.
Surely, he must score! But no – Palmer attempted to place it rather than blast it, and it was somehow blocked on the line by Matt Grimes as Liam Kitchen also flung himself across goal.
So, Palmer had another go – and Grimes was in the way again! Chaos! The ball seemed to get stuck between Grimes’ feet and his clearance nearly rebounded off Joel Latibeaudiere for an own goal, but it snuck just wide and Coventry could breathe again.
What a chance to pass up when they are at such a premium, though, and against your old club.
And it would prove even more agonising given the catastrophic start to the second half – as the Tigers were a goal down before most people had retaken their seats.
They have often been vulnerable around the interval and so it proved again, through another combination of poor defending and sheer bad luck. A clearance from Slater only found Grimes, who swung at it, not quite wrapping his foot around it, in truth – but it seemed to glance off Slater and then it took a big deflection off Charlie Hughes.
It totally wrong-footed Pandur, who could only watch as the ball seemed to take an age to just bobble past him. It was a predictable, hapless sucker-punch that, given Coventry’s form, you just couldn’t see the Tigers coming back from.
Simms put it over the bar from a great position in the 53rd minute, before a downward header from Wright hit the near post. It looked like a mauling could be on the cards.
The impressive Sky Blues following in the North East corner was by now in full voice; the home fans were reduced to a murmur.
Abu Kamara and Nordin Amrabat replaced Lincoln and Palmer just before the hour as the Tigers attempted to wrestle back some possession and control, but the visitors were bossing it.
As the half wore on, Coventry looked like they’d switched down a gear, given the Tigers’ lack of potency. Even so, they were nearly 2-0 up again in the 69th minute as Jack Rudoni fired a cross across the face of goal, but Simms just couldn’t get a touch on it.
The home fans were at last given something to shout about in the 73rd minute as Gelhardt raced clear on the right and crossed to Amrabat on the left of the area. He cut it back to Kamara, but he didn’t quite get his body behind it and the shot was blocked and out for a corner.
Moments later, Slater cut it back for Coyle, who skied it from close range. Frustrating, but it was the Tigers’ best passage of play so far and the fans responded.
Play was then halted for an injury to Egan near the halfway line, and he was replaced by Alfie Jones.
The match looked like it was drifting to its inevitable conclusion when, out of the blue, City were back in it in the 82nd minute.
Amrabat floated a long ball to Kamara in space on the right. He seemed to be at too much of an acute angle to be able to do anything with it, but he took the shot on – and with the help of a deflection off Jay Dasilva, this time it was Collins who was wrong-footed and the ball rolled past him into the back of the net.
What an incredible turnaround – and the MKM Stadium exploded like it had rarely been heard all season.
The roar was massive as five minutes of added time were announced, but the visitors had time for one last barrage of the Tigers’ box. In the 92nd minute, Pandur again came to the rescue, pushing a shot from Milan Van Ewijk around the post.
The “He dives to the left, he dives to the right” (and you know the rest) chant rang out from the North Stand – an anthem sung for only the most legendary of keepers, and Pandur surely has made a case for not just player of the season but entry into a future hall of fame. Even the most ardent cheerleaders for Rosenior must admit that’s one call he got wrong.
This match was also notable for the promotion of the #CheckYourTools campaign by the underwear brand Oddballs in conjunction with stadium sponsor MKM Building Supplies, which saw the Press handed out free boxer shorts ahead of kick-off.
With Hull City earning such a huge point in their fight against the drop, at least you can’t say the result was pants…