Hull City 1 Reading 2: New manager, same old worrying home habits for Tigers

On a day when Liam Rosenior would have been hankering for a home victory and a clean sheet, he got neither.

Instead, he saw City succumb to a seventh home defeat in eight matches. Gruesome numbers.

A poor game, more especially in the second half, was decided in scrappy fashion. Ex-City winger Tom Ince’s deep free-kick was always decided for Andy Carroll.

The towering centre-forward, on as a sub, did what he does and rose majestically with Ryan Longman diverting his header into the net in the fourth minute of stoppage-time. Grim.

Aside from an encouraging opening, it was pretty under-whelming.

City’s search for a first-half clean sheet continues - this was the ninth occasion in a row in which they shipped in the first half of a game at the MKM Stadium.

It was made all the more annoying in that they had taken an early lead against a decidedly charitable Reading defence who looked ripe for the taking.

The Royals looked like a side who had lost six of their previous eight games and boasted more away losses than anyone in this division ahead of the game - including hammerings at two Yorkshire venues in Rotherham and Sheffield United.

Hull went close when Tobias Figueiredo saw his header brilliantly clawed away by Royals keeper Dean Bouzanis. The visitors did not learn their lesson - sadly neither did City later.

From the resultant corner, a fine outswinging one from Jean-Michael Seri, who started well, Jacob Greaves attacked it superbly to power home a header, his first ever senior goal in his home city.

The visiting backline looked uncomfortable and should have conceded a second when Bouzanis made a complete hash of a clearance to present Regan Slater with a juicy sight of goal, but his reaction was too sluggish and the chance was passed up.

That gravity of that moment was enforced when Reading equalised.

Hull had their warning when loose defensive work saw them fail to clear, with Nathan Baxter getting down low to keep out Junior Hoilett’s scrambled effort.

Hoilett took the resultant corner from left and City rearguard were then caught dozing when Yakou Meite converted at the far corner.

You have back to City’s win over Reading in April for the last occasion in which they recorded a shut-out on home soil. With defending like this, it is no wonder.

A controversial moment then arrived five minutes before the break when Jeff Hendrick caught Ryan Woods with an ugly looking challenge. The home fans chanted ‘Off, off’, but instead, after a bit of deliberation, referee Ward brandished a yellow instead.

Reading started the second half a little better, but aside from a header from Meite which was comfortably saved, did not make it count with the game waiting for someone to truly take charge.

As time progressed, the impression that one moment of quality - or a mistake - might just settle this fixture grew.

Rosenior made a triple substitution on the hour mark to try and make things happen. Reading’s changes did.

Some piercing work from Greaves provided Longman with a sniff, but reliable Royals captain Andy Yiadom was alert and made a good saving challenge.

The sting came from Reading.