Hull City 0 Stoke City 2: ‘We weren’t good enough’ admits Grant McCann
Hull City boss Grant McCann watched his side slump to a fourth straight defeat and admitted: “We were nowhere near good enough and got out of the game what we deserved”.
Goals from Jacob Brown and Tom Ince saw Stoke City record a fourth away win from their last five road trips.
“There were mistakes made for their goals, but this game was not about individuals,” said McCann.
“We weren’t good enough collectively and, all in all, it was a really disappointing afternoon for us.
“We didn’t give our fans anything to cheer about at all.
“But I have an honest and young group of players who know when they have not performed, so they don’t need me shouting and screaming at them.
“They just need to make sure they are better in the next game, because too many of them were off their game and it was a poor performance from start to finish.”
Home keeper Nathan Baxter quickly had to race out of his penalty box to tackle D’Margio Wright-Phillips.
Moments later, Baxter was quick off his line again to smother a Brown shot with covering defender Sean Mcloughlin then blocking Ince’s goal-bound follow-up effort.
Ince sliced well over from Sam Clucas’s consequent corner but the former Hull players combined again to help Brown open the scoring midway through the first half.
This time, Ince spotted Clucas free on the left wing and the latter’s pinpoint cross saw Brown net with an emphatic six-yard header. The Staffordshire outfit continued to press after going ahead with Clucas slicing off target from distance and Baxter reacting brilliantly to get his fingertips to a Phil Jagielka header.
Hull finally mustered a noteworthy attempt in the 34th minute when George Honeyman raided down the right and his cross was met by a firm Tom Eaves volley that Jack Bonham did well to hold on to in the visitors’ goal.
The Potters were back on the front foot after the break with Josh Tymon nutmegging Di’Shon Bernard before his powerful drive was blocked by McLoughlin. A sloppy pass out of defence by Bernard, intercepted by James Chester, then led to Stoke’s second goal after 50 minutes.
Chester found Clucas in the space vacated by the on-loan Manchester United defender and his pass from the left channel picked out fellow ex-Tiger Ince, who swept a 15-yard finish into Baxter’s bottom-left corner.
Hull City: Baxter, Bernard, McLoughlin, Greaves, Longman, Huddlestone (Smallwood 58), Docherty (Moncur 46), Lewis-Potter, Honeyman, Tyler Smith (Williams 58), Eaves. Unused substitutes: Ingram, M Smith, Fleming, Hinds.
Stoke City: Bonham, Harwood-Bellis, Jagielka, Chester, Smith, Ince, Allen, Clucas, Tymon (Doughty 69), Wright-Phillips (Baker 72), Brown (Campbell 82). Unused substitutes: Davies, Fox, Fletcher, Surridge.
Referee: J Smith (Lincolnshire).