Fleetwood Town 4 Hull City 1 - Tigers blown off track at Highbury

On a night when history beckoned if Hull registered a fifth straight league clean sheet at the start of a season – which would have equalled a club record set by Billy McCracken’s class of 1925-6 at a time when Stanley Baldwin was Prime Minister – that particular quest was routed just 17 minutes in.

More consequential for manager Grant McCann was the sight of his side relinquishing their 100 per record all too easily amid a best league start in 72 years.

It was not necessarily the defeat which will sting for the Northern Irishman. More the manner of it in a second half when his side were blown away and simply could not cope – with their defensive meekness making a total mockery of their previous stinginess..

It yielded three unanswered goals for Callum Camps, the outstanding Harvey Saunders and Sam Stubbs – as the East Yorkshire outfit suffered another bruising episode in Red Rose county.

The hosts’ margin of victory was not flattering.

Granted, it was nothing like on the scale of that awful night at Wigan late last season, but it was a shock to the system nevertheless on a night when the visitors could have moved three points clear at the summit.

Next up for Hull?. Only a trip to Rochdale...

It was Fleetwood who announced their intentions by setting about Hull from the off with their experienced duo of Paul Coutts and Glenn Whelan – the former Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday midfield pair – controling things in the engine room.

In the final third, they possessed the star turn in Saunders, who scored twice to complete a dream week and could have easily added a couple more.

McCann spoke ahead of the game about having little luck as a player and manager in this part of the Fylde coast, while also suggesting that the occasion might represent a bit of a culture shock for some of his players after the pats on the back of late.

They proved to be fateful sentiments on a night when he will have learned plenty about his players.

Just as the barometer for successful Championship sides is doing the business on a wet Tuesday night in Stoke, surely getting a positive result on a cold and windy evening in Fleetwood is the League One equivalent. Fleetwood hassled and harried Hull and won their fair share of early battles to suggest that it would not be a straightforward night as McCann suspected.

The visitors were afforded little time to settle and going forward, the hosts produced some probing, intensive play led by Saunders.

It was the young forward, fresh from a hat-trick in midweek in the EFL Trophy, who produced a very slick opener, although McCann will not have been happy with the way his side were undressed down their left.

Camps sent Saunders clear and with Hull looking exposed, the teenager surged away from Daniel Batty to tuck away his fourth goal inside a week.

Hull’s response was instant, courtesy of George Honeyman, who made up for a spot of personal disappointment in missing out on the League One player of the month accolade for September in netting a close-range rebound 
after the fit-again Mallik Wilks saw his shot blocked close to the line.

The creator was Keane Lewis-Potter, thanks to a sublime pass. Going the other way in his defensive duties, the precocious talent is still a work in progress and it was a night which ultimately belonged to Saunders.

With a relatively inexperienced central defence with Harrison Holgate, just turned 20 this week handed a league debut, Fleetwood did look susceptible, certainly from set-pieces with Reece Burke clipping the bar following Honeyman’s deep corner ahead of a home opener.

But going forward, there was much to admire with Ingram making a fine close-range save to deny Saunders – ravenous for more goals after his opener following Danny Andrew’s brilliant free-kick delivery and Saunders went close again soon after.

McCann was the one who will have been more pleased to get to the interval at level pegging and events at the start of the second period would have left him cursing.

Slack play for Honeyman was instantly seized upon by Fleetwood, with the excellent Saunders supplying another who shone in Camps, whose low finish was instinctive and clinical.

With the elements taking a turn for the worse for spells, it represented a stiff test of Hull’s credentials and they were found wanting.

Saunders tucked away his second of the second of the night and went close to his hat-trick with Ingram blocking well before Stubbs sealed an outstanding second period for the hosts by heading home unchallenged following Coutts’s corner.

Fleetwood: Leutwiler; Burns, Stubbs, Holgate, Andrew; Coutts (Matete 89), Whelan; Saunders (Hill 88), Camps, Madden; Evans (Duffy 90). Substitutes unused: Cairns, McKay, Garner, Rydel.

Hull City: Ingram; Emmanuel, Burke, De Wijs, Elder; Batty (Mayer 56), Docherty, Adelakun (Slater 76), Honeyman, Lewis-Potter, Wilks (Samuelsen 87). Substitutes unused: Long, Coyle, A Jones, Chadwick.

Referee: O Yates (Staffs).

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Thank you, James Mitchinson. Editor.