Hull City 0 Luton Town 2: That's not entertainment as Tigers fail to justify timing of Shota Arveladze's sacking

That the Tigers waited until the last nine hours of a two-week international break to pull the trigger was baffling.

It could only really make sense if they got a reaction against Luton Town. Instead they were loudly booed off after a 2-0 defeat.

Acun Ilicali wants entertainment but the home fans in the 15,730 crowd did not seem especially especially amused by their team's fifth straight defeat or their fourth game without a goal.

The tannoy opted for the melancholic "Don't Dream It's Over" as its first post-match track.

It looked like the first chance for a fresh start would be wasted when the new manager bounce went against Hull twice in the first quarter of the game. Elijah Adebayo's shot hit the crossbar and ricocheted in off Alfie Jones, Regan Slater's at the other end caught Dan Potts before hitting the woodwork and bouncing to safety.

But when you defend as ineptly as Hull did, especially at set pieces, you cannot complain about fortune not favouring you, no matter how brave your owner might be in trying to zhuzh things up.

Arveladze had been half-expecting the sack after the 3-0 defeat in South Wales a fortnight earlier, or at least was uncertain if it was coming, as he admitted afterwards. The club were quick to let it be known it was not.

The Georgian took Wednesday's press conference and wrote Friday’s programme notes. They spoke of "a productive international break," adding: "We have worked hard on the training ground in the last fortnight to put things right".

Defending set pieces must not have featured prominently.

Hull waited until 11.30 on the morning of a televised match to decide, in Ilicali's words, "The ideas difference between us were too big to sort in the future" and put club favourite Andy Dawson in charge, informing him that morning.

"We've got Arveladze" became "We've got Andy Dawson" on the terraces but support turned quickly to frustration.

Although Ilicali is hell-bent on entertainment, telling Sky before the game "I prefer us to lose 3-2 than draw 0-0" the team Arveladze presumably bequeathed did not exactly scream of it, rather a pragmatic response to the hole Hull are in.

It was a more English and solid-looking team (not to say one equals the other). Tobias Figueiredo, a walking accident in Arveladze's last games was benched alongside Jean Michael Seri, replaced with the more combative Ryan Woods. Ryan Longman came for the injured Harvey Vale, not fit-again Turkey winger Dogukan Sinik, whose positive debut was delayed until they swapped in the 71st minute.

The set-up is always less important than the mindset, though, and at times Hull tried to play like the Harlem Globetrotters. The problem is, they are not Harlem Globetrotters and Luton are nobodies patsies.

Hull bossed the ball, Luton the scoreline as City picked the wrong times and wrong places to overplay.

Ozan Tufan's early feint to pass forward, deflecting the ball to Callum Elder with his standing leg, was a good trick but a square ball to a full-back a couple of yards inside the opposition half achieved little.

Pelkas' curling shot over, Slater's barnstormer onto the bar and his nutmeg of Jordan Clark showed the talent in this squad, but finding the structure to make the most of it is no easy task for whoever is next.

"We've signed players we dreamed of," said Ilicali. Nobody in their right mind dreams of nuggety left-backs and gritty holding midfielders, but the best teams have them.

Hull trailed inside seven minutes, to Jones' unfortunate own goal.

An over-exuberant Slater pass across the back nearly gave Clark the chance to make a second but he was quickly closed down.

Unnecessary passes out gave the ball away softly, albeit goalkepeer Nathan Baxter made amends with a stretching save when Carlton Morris was the latest Luton player given far too much space at a dead ball.

He saved again, from Clark at the end of the first half, but when Hull failed to get the ball away Henri Lansbury blasted a brilliant goal.

Helped by the substitutions, especially Sinik's, and even more by Luton seemingly declaring, Hull created plenty of chances but no sense of dread in the second 45 minutes.

The second half went through the motions, no entertainment for the television viewers and certainly not the home fans.

Hull City: Baxter; Coyle, A Jones, Greaves, Elder; Woods (Seri 71), Slater; Longman (Sinik 71), Tufan, Pelkas (Christie 59); Estupinan (Docherty 59). Unused substitutes: Ingram, Figueiredo, McLoughlin.

Luton Town: Horvath; Burke (Osho 46), Lockyer, Potts; Bree, Campbell, Lansbury (Mpanzu 71), Clark (Onyedinma 90), Bell; Adebayo (Cornick 90), Morris (Jerome 71). Unused substitutes: Isted, Doughty.

Referee: J Linnington (Isle of Wight)