The FA Cup is a brilliant cup competition that can produce some magical matches, like it did at Maccelsfield on Saturday. But it also serves up its fair share of third-round stinkers.

Hull City 0 Blackburn Rovers 0 definitely fell into the latter category. What little excitement there was came in extra-time of a match so poor the Football Association could probably charged both sides with bringing the game into disrepute.

At least from a Hull perspective, they made it through, 4-3 on penalties, having gone out at home to Doncaster Rovers on spot kicks 12 months earlier.

Played in early January when bank balances are still recovering, an all-Championship game on a bitterly cold, rain and windswept Sunday afternoon was nobody's idea of fun, and particularly not the 6,627 who witnessed it in person.

But for the Tigers, it presented a wonderful opportunity.

Hull have not been in the fourth round since 2020 – before Acun Ilicali bought them – and Sergej Jakirovic sent out a team that meant business. Blackburn's Valerien Ismael, by contrast, named a disdainful side featuring two starters playing their first senior football, Connor O'Riordan a first start after returning from a loan at Doncaster and loanee Eiran Cashin debuting too.

In short, a young side was there for the taking.

Substitute David Akintonla had two chances to knock them out inside 120 minutes but swiped at fresh air when presented with a sitter in regulation time, then hit a volley against the crossbar in extra-time.

CHANCE: Balazs Toth denies Liam Millar from the game's first shot on target, 50 minutes in (Image: George Wood/Getty Images)

placeholder image — CHANCE: Balazs Toth denies Liam Millar from the game's first shot on target, 50 minutes in (Image: George Wood/Getty Images)

But it was Akintola who finally settled the tie with the 10th kick off the shoot-out.

The first half was absolutely dire, the second improved to mediocre and extra time had a flash of promise without delivering on it.

Blackburn started with more about them than the lacklustre Tigers, Charlie Hughes having to throw himself in the way of a Brandon Powell shot, Tom Atcheson's effort having the sting taken out of it on the way to Dillon Phillips.

It took 23 minutes for Hull to have an attack of note, Kasey Palmer – drafted in when Matt Crooks felt his quad in the warm-up – having shots blocked by Taylor Gardner-Hickman and Atcheson but Liam Millar headed a Lewie Coyle cross over.

INJURY: Darko Gyabi's race is rub early (Image: George Wood/Getty Images)

By then Hull had lost Darko Gyabi to a groin injury, the midfielder going down inside 10 minutes with no one near him. It only added to the criciticisms from those who felt Jakirovic had picked too strong a team.

But as the only game in a 16-day period before the Championship trip to Southampton, asking professional footballers to tick over with a game of football hardly looked reckless.

Not until the fifth added minute of the half was there a shot on target, the only one of the 90 minutes. The hosts at last put together a half-decent passing move which ended with Gyabi's substitute Regan Slater picking Millar out, only for Balazas Toth to come off his line and block from a tight angle.

Hull were better in the second half – how could they be worse? – without being good enough to win.

Millar steered a shot over with a defender running at him when a 48th-minute corner picked him out on the edge of the penalty area, Eiran Cashin got a foot to Slater's effort, Drameh curled a shot wide, Joe Nadala shot over when picked out by Hadziahmetovic and Millar horribly miskicked wide.

In the 74th minute he ignored the "man on" shouts clearly audible in such a sparsely filled stadium but fortunately for him when Blackburn broke away, Powell's shot at the end of it was wild.

Akintola produced an air-shot when Hadziahmetovic found him at the back post in stoppage time and cheers went up in the third added minute when the Bosnian rippled the net, only for the realisation to dawn that he hit the side netting from the wrong side and there was no escaping 30 more minutes.

They were, though, the best of the game, Slater heading over under pressure then hitting a shot into George Pratt before Oli McBurnie's 101st-minute header forced a brilliant Toth save. Akintola smashed the rebound against the crossbar.

Three minutes later Phillips had to backpedal and stretch to keep out what may or may not have been an Axel Henriksson shot.

Henriksson ought to have won it in the 109th minute, but when Blackburn broke away Aodhan Doherty greedily dragged a shot into the side netting rather than pick him out. If ever a moment summed up a game...

Even the shoot-out was 0-0 after three kicks, Phillips saving from Yuki Ohashi and Moussa Baradji and Toth throwing himself right to deny Coyle.

Finally, sanity kicked in, Kyle Joseph, McBurnie and Hughes netting for Hull, Garner-Hickman, Sean McLoughlin and Doherty scoring for Blackburn before Akintola finally drew a veil over a forgettable day.

Hull City: Phillips; Drameh (Jacob 111), Hughes, Famewo (Egan 105), L Coyle; Hadziahmetovic, Gyabi (Slater 11); Ndala (Akintola 82), Palmer (Joseph 82), Millar (McCarthy (90+4); McBurnie. Unused substitutes: Pandur, Parker.

Blackburn Rovers: Toth; Atcheson, O’Riordan (Pratt 90), Cashin (McLoughlin 74); Miller, Gardner-Hickman, Montgomery (Baradji 65), De Neve (Ribeiro 74); Powell (Ohashi 69); Henriksson, Dlamini (Doherty 69). Unused substitutes: Pickering, Tyjon, Michalski.

Referee: W Finnie (Bedfordshire).