Hull City give plenty of positives for Acun Ilicali despite FA Cup exit

Hopefully the scrutiny he and his experts have applied to the books is matched by an understanding of matters on the field, where the picture is more positive than results suggest.

Ilicali has apparently been a voracious iFollower this season and sent director-of-football-in-waiting Tan Kesler to the draw with Bristol City but for the glamour FA Cup third-round tie at home to Everton, the Turkish television mogul was part of Hull’s biggest home crowd (16,282) since Chelsea’s Cup visit two years ago.

Ilicali saw Hull lose a third game in a row, extending their winless sequence to five matches, but it was far from the full picture of a 3-2 win Everton sweated on for the full 120 minutes.

Had Keane Lewis-Potter not hit the post at 2-2, had Asmir Begovic not pulled off a tremendous 108th-minute save from Tom Eaves, or had substitute Josh Hinds bundled in the rebound with his first involvement, it could have been different. Then again, Everton had a couple of what-if moments leaving them wishing VAR applied to all third-round matches, not just ones hosted by Premier League clubs.

What is slightly concerning is Ilicali’s background work does not appear to have included a conversation with Grant McCann, who said he was unaware of any plans to put that right now Turkey’s answer to Simon Cowell was in East Yorkshire. Getting McCann to talk in public about off-the-field matters would test those skilled in extracting blood from stones, but the distance between himself and the takeover feels even greater than that between Hull and Istanbul.

New regimes like fresh starts, and a P45 for McCann would be a crowd-pleaser with support lukewarm to the man who has overseen a Championship relegation and a League One title, but he is creating something worth building on, not demolishing.

In the 10 minutes between Demarai Gray’s well-taken goal from Anthony Gordon’s lovely return pass and Andre Gomes’s unhindered header from Jonjoe Kenny’s pulled-back cross it felt like a surprisingly strong but out of form Everton side – who had not been in the first 20 minutes – had belatedly woken up and would subsume Hull. Goalkeeper Nathan Baxter was earning his corn trying to keep Tyler Smith’s headed goal from George Honeyman’s 43rd-second free-kick relevant.

Gray and Gordon, the wingers in Everton’s 3-4-3, began to expose similar gaps to those Hull found down the side of their back three and wing-backs Lewis-Potter and Randell Williams were having to spend more energy on the weaker side of their games.

Lewis-Potter is catching the eye of Premier League teams for his attacking and if he was less professional might ask why he should bust a gut in a competition the Tigers had no chance of winning for a coach who might soon leave. Shifted from left to right then back again in the second half, he rolled his sleeves up.

“Whatever the shape we try to keep the style of play,” explained McCann. “I like playing with wingers, it’s more attacking and because they’re young and fit they’re very good on transition.”

Just as Everton’s first goal inspired them, their second set Hull right and after two spells of one-sided football, the game became even, and stayed that way.

After becalming Everton, McCann had to up Hull’s threat, so Tom Huddlestone, George Moncur and Ryan Longman came off the bench after 63 minutes. Soon Huddlestone thundered into a block tackle, Moncur carried the ball then laid it off for Longman to curl a wonderful goal.

The might-have-beens never happened and substitute Andros Townsend, gritting his teeth to play when physically he should not have, hit a shot of such power and swerve a wrong-footed Baxter could not get a decisive hand on it when he shifted his weight back in the right direction.

It consigned Hull’s hard work to the dustbin but they are producing confidence-earning performances for a Championship relegation battle they have given themselves a fighting chance in since Ilicali’s bid entered an exclusivity period in late October.

“I came off with a lot of cramp in both calves, both groins, both hamstrings,” admitted Smith, but his effort was not unusual. Baxter was brilliant, Honeyman “a Duracell battery” according to McCann, Huddlestone showed what he can bring if he just stays fit for a lengthy period, Eaves was inspired and centre-forward partner Smith, on loan from Sheffield United, scored his first Hull goal.

“He should have scored six or seven goals but he’s just been unfortunate he’s missed chances Tyler would usually take,” said McCann. “He’s a natural finisher.”

Smith agreed, “but I’ll keep plodding along,” he said. “Everything comes with hard work.

“My confidence now is high. We get balls in the box, channel balls, get their defensive line running towards their own goal and that’s all I want – chance after chance, after chance.

“Competing against a team like Everton right the way through to extra time is only going to give us more confidence so next week we have to try and get three points.

“We’ve stuck together so well, we demand a lot of each other. The majority of our defeats we haven’t really deserved, we’ve had big chances, not taken them, and we’ve been in every single match.”

This team can certainly be improved with a more clinical striker and a centre-back to add experience to raw talent but it has a spirit easily damaged if Ilicali and Kesler take a wrecking ball to a squad not far away.