Good but bad: Why Hull City are so hard to judge after 3-1 defeat to Millwall

It began with a poor performance at Portsmouth, but a fifth straight away win, nicked 1-0. Hull were resolute again on their travels days later, yet lost 1-0 at Ipswich Town.

Coach Sergej Jakirovic felt Saturday against Millwall was their best home display this season. All that was missing was the small details but the problem is, those small details decide games. Millwall won 3-1.

Should Hull be delighted to outplay another side who have confounded expectations to be in the Championship play-off spots or worried the sort of sloppy mistakes which led to all three Millwall goals, plus limp finishing, makes how well they do the rest pretty irrelevant?

March is results time, not performances time, which is why Pompey chimed so pleasingly.

The Tigers camp bought fully into the positive narrative, which is fair enough if it does not cause them to gloss over the shortcomings behind a fourth defeat in five home games.

"I congratulated my players because this is the way how we must continue," commented Jakirovic.

"I feel like on a different day, if we take one of the chances we created first off it's a completely different game," said midfielder Regan Slater.

Those two little letters are so important – if.

"I thought Hull performance-wise were better," admitted Millwall’s honest manager Alex Neil. "I thought they carried more of a threat, they won more second balls, landed more tackles than we did.

"In the second half I could only see them going on to win when the game was 1-1, and that's why I put another centre-forward (Mihailo Ivanovic) on.

"They are where they are in the league (fifth) on merit, they're one of the hardest teams to play against."

The first half was the hard luck story for Hull. They built the play up well again in the second half only to make costly mistakes.

Three times in the opening period the ball hit the woodwork. Whereas Kyle Joseph's header from John Lundstram's winger-quality cross and Charlie Hughes' from a Slater free-kick fell safe, Jake Cooper's volley bounced behind the line.

But Hull left Tristan Crama in too much space to head Femi Azeez's free-kick to his fellow centre-back.

Joe Gelhardt equalised inside four minutes with calmness and power when played in by Joseph.

It was the exception to the Hull rule. Twenty-three shots yielded just five on target and only that goal.

In fairness, Hull ought to have had another, the ball ping-ponging around on the half hour when Gelhardt and Lundstram shots were blocked before Joseph headed the loose ball in. It was disallowed.

"I don't even know what it was for," Neil told the media.

David Webb saw an Oli McBurnie block on goalkeeper Anthony Patterson. It was so soft you despair for what the game is becoming.

"I don't know how you can get that decision wrong, really," said Slater.

"Goal all day," snapped Jakirovic.

So Hull had good cause to feel aggrieved, but did not help themselves.

It was no shock Millwall's left-siders came off at half-time, so well had Cody Drameh and especially Joseph ganged up on them. Hull then overloaded the other flank to good effect.

But Slater could not get enough purchase on a couple of shots, easily saved. Others missed the target. Dangerous crossing positions too often did not produce chances.

And then there was the defending.

If the first goal Hull conceded was poor, the next two were shocking.

Ivor Pandur dived over Azeez's low ball in, and when it pretty much hit Ivanovic to go into the net from a couple of yards out, the Hull defenders he ran between were on their heels outside the six-yard box.

You could say the pass Semi Ajayi played nowhere near Hughes and far too close to Josh Coburn showed the tiredness of a man 78 minutes into his first match since tearing his hamstring at the Africa Cup of Nations. Dropped/rested after Tuesday's loss, John Egan and Paddy McNair watched from the bench.

Hughes jockeyed the ex-Middlesbrough striker without ever touching the ball before a precise finish as Coburn got into the penalty area sent home fans to the exits.

For the team too, there was no coming back.

Top marks for the pretty stuff, a fail for the bits that matter.

Complete games do not come that often in a 46-match slog, but it has been a while since Hull put all their good qualities together at once.

Hull City: Pandur; Drameh, Ajayi, Hughes, Coyle (McCarthy 90); Slater (Collyer 90), Lundstram (Hadziahmetovic 71); Joseph (Koumas 71), Gelhardt, Millar (Dowell 78); McBurnie. Unused substitutes: Matazo, Phillips, Egan, McNair.

Millwall: Patterson; McNamara, Crama, Cooper, Sturge (Doughty HT (Ivanovic 62)); Mitchell; Azeez, Neghli, Langstaff (Ballo 83), Watson (Cundle HT); Coburn (Smallbone 83). Unused substitutes: Bangura-Williams, Crocombe, Mazou-Sacko, Bannan.

Referee: D Webb (County Durham).