Hull City 2 Oxford 1: Leeds United loanee Joe Gelhardt sparks lightning quick Tigers turnaround

After beating Plymouth here last Tuesday, the Tigers gave their survival hopes a major shot in the arm by defeating and moving above Oxford with a 2-1 victory.

But up until they scored two goals in four second-half minutes to turn the game on its head, it had all the makings of a very frustrating night for Ruben Selles’ men.

Michal Helik had scored a fair few important goals in his time in south and west Yorkshire at Barnsley and Huddersfield, and for a brief moment it looked like he’d scored another big one in the East Riding, this time to the detriment of a Yorkshire club.

His thumping volley from Matt Phillips’ corner on 67 minutes threatened to make it another night of home misery for the Tigers.

That was until Joe Gelhardt finally unlocked the Oxford rearguard from Kasey Palmer’s weighted through ball on 73 minutes, before Gustavo Puerta danced along the byline and found the net via the heel of Oxford goalkeeper Jamie Cumming three minutes later.

Hull readily found pockets in behind the Oxford defence prior to that, but frustratingly the end product was missing.

Matt Crooks to Abu Kamara and then Kamara to Gelhardt were guilty of over-hitting passes when a more subtler touch would have released the Hull man in on goal.

When they did work the angles, largely through Gelhardt running at the visiting defence, the Leeds man was either off balance and off target, or he found Cumming, the Oxford goalkeeper and captain, in no mood to be beaten.

Oxford, with an away record almost as woeful as Hull’s home record - with one win on their travels to Hull’s three at the MKM Stadium - threatened primarily from set-pieces; Phillips heading Ruben Rodrigues’ set-piece narrowly wide before Will Vaulks forced Ivor Pandur into a low save to his right with a thumping free-kick.

Gelhardt had an even better chance 13 minutes into the second, presented to him by Kamara who beat the offside trap, got to the byline and pulled the ball back to Gelhardt who again blazed over.

There had been warning signs for Hull before Helik’s goal, Rodrigues shooting straight at Pandur after being gifted possession on the edge of the area, before the Polish defender peeled off his marker and met a Phillips corner with a thumping right-foot volley that arced away from Pandur.

Instead of feeling sorry for themselves it sparked Hull into a dramatic turnaround with Gelhardt finally hitting the target with a lovely delayed finish after Palmer’s measured pass.

And then Puerta beat a man on the byline and instead of cutting the ball back, took everyone by surprise by shooting, the ball ricocheting in off Cumming.

There was still time for hearts to be in Hull mouths when substitute Przemyslaw Placheta struck the cross bar with a 25-yard drive, but they hung on for a priceless win.

Puerta was then sent off in the seventh minute of added time for a perceived dive and a second yellow card.