Hull City's defensive problems highlighted once again in defeat at West Brom

Hull City lost 4-2 at West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. Picture: Getty Images

Hull City's defensive frailty once again proved their undoing as they went down 4-2 on the road at West Bromwich Albion.

The Tigers played some tidy football and created plenty of chances against their title-chasing hosts, but were found wanting at the other end of the field in Sunday's Championship encounter.

A defeat for relegation rivals Middlesbrough earlier the same afternoon means that Grant McCann's team remain a point clear of the drop zone, but they have little chance of keeping their heads above water if they do not shore up their leaky back-line between now and the end of 2019/20.

The four they conceded at the Hawthorns means that City have now shipped 12 goals in their last three away fixtures.

When you consider that, prior to lockdown, they also lost 4-0 to Leeds and 5-1 to Brentford either side of a 4-4 draw against Swansea, it comes as little surprise to see that the East Yorkshire club have the second-worst defensive record in the division.

The January departure of their two most influential players - Jarrod Bowen and Kamil Grosicki - has undoubtedly been a big factor in their slide down the league table, but both of these men were attackers.

Hull's inability to keep a clean-sheet since the turn of the year - they are now 17 games without one - is more puzzling, but it is an issue that McCann must address immediately.

As badly as his side have played in a lot of matches during the second half of the season, they performed well enough with the ball to have beaten Birmingham last weekend and taken at least a share of the spoils at West Brom.

But, they are far too easy to get at, cannot defend their box properly as a collective, and are guilty of making too many individual mistakes - with the inability to stay with men or track runners probably their greatest failing in recent weeks.

That they overcame Middlesbrough last time out to record a first victory in 14 attempts owed much to grit and determination, but more to the fact that their opponents failed to make the most of a host of promising attacking positions.

Just as was the case against Boro, the Tigers found themselves behind on four minutes at the Hawthorns, Charlie Austin finishing off Matheus Pereira's low cross.