Hull City 1 Doncaster Rovers 1 (Doncaster win 5-4 on penalties): Rovers keep cool as Grant McCann downs Tigers again

McCann's two previous shoot-outs with Rovers had not gone well, losing to Manchester United's Under-21s in this season's Football League Trophy, and far more damagingly denied a place in last year's play-off final by Crewe Alexandra.

So when Carl Rushworth saved Joe Ironside's opening penalty to decide this FA Cup third-round tie, they probably feared the worst.

But Jamie Sterry, Jordan Gibson, Ben Close – with a cheeky “Penanka” – Luke Molyneux and Harry Clifton did their job to allow Teddy Sharman-Lowe's save from Alfie Jones to send the League Two club through to the fourth round for the first time since 2021.

Hull have now gone out at the third round stage four years running.

Harshly if unsurprisingly sacked shortly after Acun Ilicali bought the Tigers in January 2022, McCann has been getting his own back since, knocking Hull out of last season's League Cup.

Whilst a long way below their best, Hull still had the lion's share of a low-quality game they should never have allowed to go so far.

The Yorkshire derby was moved to a Sunday noon kick-off but the game served up for the almost-certainly packed bars in Beijing and Baku was disappointingly low key until the shoot-out which decided it.

There were only 10,032 in the stands and that was with a full away allocation of around 2,300 with tales of others in the home sections.

As is often the case, the atmosphere dictated the game and the two sides lacked accuracy when it was time for the killer pass to be played.

Both teams named strong starting XIs, Hull giving a debut to on-loan goalkeeper Rushworth and rare starts for Fin Burns and Harry Vaughan.

January signing Rob Street was making his first start for Rovers, forward Ethan Ennis a debut from the bench after joining on loan from Manchester United on Friday.

Doncaster were quickly out of the blocks, Billy Sharp heading Joe Sbarra’s ball over less than a minute in against his previous club, but were soon forced onto the back foot.

Too often, though, good football was quickly wasted by bad, such as when Joseph Olowu stepped out from the back to rob Gustavo Puerta, only to misplace his pass.

In all, Hull managed three good chances, Puerta curling narrowly over after Doncaster players got in each other's way, Rushworth saving a Joao Pedro free-kick then more comfortably the follow-up as Burns stooped to head the rebound, and Kamara pulling a good chance wide at the end of the first half.

First-half chances were rare for the League Two team, but good.

Hull nearly conceded again from one of their own corners after captain-for-the-day Regan Slater's touch let them in, but the move fizzled out, ending with a weak shot wide by Street.

Pedro had to make an important interception to stop Owen Bailey scoring just before half-time, then blazed wide trying to do his day job when picked out by a long ball shortly after the restart.

Soon Doncaster were in front, and Hull were to blame. Sbarra's threaded pass showed good vision but he played it straight to Giles. When the ball got caught in the full-back's feet, Molyneux pounced.

It looked like the script had been written for an upset, half-time substitute Jones having a shot blocked, as Molyneux did, before Puerta shot wide.

But in the 80th minute Hull had their moment, and took it, Puerta reacting first when Mason Burstow's shot bounced off a post. Sharman-Lowe got a hand to it, but could only help it in. The goalkeeper was fortunate not to be red-carded minutes later, bringing Abu Kamara down outside the area for a free-kick Slater hit over. It would be pivotal.

Pedro curled wide in the first period but it was not until the second that Hull ramped up the pressure, Sharman-Lowe making a terrific save from Jones and a good one from Sean McLoughlin whilst his team-mates were too tentative to pounce on the opportunities to counter-attack the flow of the game was throwing up.

Pedro, McLoughlin, Coyle and Slater all found the net with their penalties, but Burstow blazed the fifth over and Sharman-Lowe denied Jones from the sixth to make Doncaster the first League Two team inked into 2025’s fourth round.​

Hull City: Rushworth; Drameh, Burns (Jones HT), McLoughlin, Giles (L Coyle 61); Slater, Alzate (Simons HT); Kamara, Puerta, Vaughan (Burstow 61); Pedro. Unused substitutes: Pandur, Smith, Sellars-Fleming, R Coyle, Myers.

Doncaster Rovers: Sharman-Lowe; Sterry, Olowu, McGrath, Maxwell; Bailey (Gibson 120+2), Broadbent (Close 91), Sbarra (Clifton 62); Street (Ennis 85), Molyneux; Sharp (Ironside 71). Unused substitutes: Lawlor, Anderson, Nixon, Senior.

Referee: SS Gill (Middlessex).