Hull City consolidated their place in the Sky Bet Championship play-offs with a 4-2 win at home to Derby County.
Hull cement top six place with chaotic win over Derby
Second-half goals from John Egan and Lewis Koumas earned the Tigers three important points after they had lost their last two league games.
Hull took the lead after nine minutes when Callum Elder scored an own goal against his former side. Craig Forsyth equalised seven minutes later for Derby, only for Oli McBurnie to score his 13th goal of the campaign after another Elder gaffe.
Sammie Szmodics restored parity for the Rams three minutes before the break, before Egan and Koumas consigned John Eustace’s men to back-to-back defeats.
Despite their mini-slump, the Tigers began positively and deserved their early lead. Ryan Giles and Liam Millar were the architects of the opening goal after the former tried to catch Josh Vickers unawares at his near post following a smart overlap.
Amir Hadziahmetovic whipped over the resulting corner from the left, which was aimed at McBurnie towards the back post, but the ball shaved off Elder’s back and into the net.
Hull fancied their chances at this stage, with Giles and Millar a continuous nuisance. But Derby had yet to play their trump card by exploiting a clear weakness down Hull’s right-hand side.
And they capitalised upon that deficiency with virtually their first offensive moment of the game. Szmodics initially did well to recover an aimless deep corner before he passed to Lewis Travis, who bustled into the penalty area before striking accurately at goal.
Ivor Pandur reacted to the danger, to an extent, but he could only paw the ball into the path of Forsyth, who could not miss.
The visitors had hit their straps and nearly made it 2-1 five minutes later when Patrick Agyemang’s lovely, weaving run along the right flank ended with the USA international striking just over the crossbar.
There followed a lull from the earlier breathlessness until, against the run of play, McBurnie cashed in on Elder’s howler. Elder, who was replaced at half-time, was again at fault as his reckless cross-field pass was easily cut out by Joe Gelhardt.
Gelhardt then passed to the onrushing McBurnie, who pirouetted clear of Forsyth before striking cleanly past Vickers. There was, however, always the sense that Derby would score again before the restart.
And so it proved in similar circumstances to that of their first goal. Agyemang this time charged into the box from the left before shooting across the face of goal. Pandur again failed to parry the ball to safety and Szmodics did the rest from a central position.
The second half was mild in nature, by comparison, though Bobby Clark really should have done better when one-on-one with Pandur.
Derby were punished for that miss after Egan made it 3-2 when he instinctively turned and shot after having been teed up by McBurnie after 75 minutes.
Koumas then put the game out of sight after 84 minutes with a superb chest and volley from in behind a statuesque Derby backline.
Journalist Leigh Curtis of The Derby Telegraph was one of many to criticise the performance of referee Adam Herczeg after a bizarre incident which led to yellow cards for Lewie Coyle and Joe Ward.
Ben Brereton Diaz was brought down by Coyle, who was booked for the foul, before Regan Slater ploughed into Lewis Travis, with the only player booked from the ensuing scrap Derby’s Joe Ward.
“Crazy. Ben Brereton Diaz is chopped down, and it’s a foul. As Travis is standing there, Slater rushes over and just barges him into the ground and gets away with it. Ref has had a dismal night.”
It wasn’t just the Rams upset with Herczeg’s display however, with The Hull Daily Mail’s Baz Cooper also baffled by the referee’s decisions throughout the night, in particular the sheer volume of fouls.
28 fouls were given on the night, 19 of which against the hosts.
