Hull City 1 Huddersfield Town 0: One goal enough for Tigers to edge out Terriers

A low-key contest in a competition down the priority list for both clubs was settled just before the hour mark with German striker Nick Proschwitz, whose exchange rate of goals in relation to his £2.6m fee has not exactly been favourable, netting a timely winner to put the Tigers into this evening’s fourth-round draw.

Proschwitz, who last week fired four goals for Tigers’ reserve team against a youthful Rotherham United line-up, lashed home the only goal of the game in the 59th minute.

It was only his sixth goal for Hull and first since netting in the climactic final-day draw with Cardiff City in early May.

His strike clinched a fourth straight win for Hull against their West Yorkshire rivals, whose wait for their first win at the KC Stadium goes on, although the performance of several youngsters handed game time by Mark Robins at least allowed the Town chief to take something positive from the evening.

Yet in truth this was a tie – despite the pre-match talk of it still being important to former Manchester United team-mates Bruce and Robins – that both sides could have done without, with that reflected in the size of the sparse crowd of 7,151, which included 955 from Huddersfield.

Anyone requiring further proof of where the competition ranked in each manager’s priorities only needed to make a cursory examination of the respective team sheets before kick-off.

Bruce, who has openly said top-flight survival is pretty much his raison d’etre for 2013-14, made nine changes from the side who stunned Newcastle on Saturday, with Robins managing to outdo him with 10 – Alex Smithies the sole survivor from Town’s weekend draw at Blackburn.

Mindful of an important league game just 72 hours on – and equally aware that a decent victory over Blackpool on Friday evening could put them into the Championship play-off positions – Robins selected his side accordingly.

Several big-hitters, most notably James Vaughan, were handed a breather and were not even on the bench.

Notable starters for Town were the development squad duo Tommy Smith and Daniel Carr, handed full debuts, with Matty Fryatt and Proschwitz among those given the chance to impress by Bruce, who did include a smattering of big guns, most notably Tom Huddlestone who was among his substitutes.

Hull posted the first semblance of quality with a raking ball from Stephen Quinn, one of just two Tigers players who had lined up at 
St James’ Park, picking out Proschwitz, but Murray Wallace made a timely block.

At the other end Abdoulaye Faye, home captain for the night, soon did likewise to deny former Dulwich Hamlet striker Carr after neat play by Sean Scannell.

The Tigers were within inches of taking the lead on 25 minutes when a striker whose last competitive goal arrived way back in April 2012 was left to curse his luck.

The unfortunate party was Fryatt, who was sent clear by Proschwitz’s pass only to see his well-struck low shot thump the base of a post, which just about summed up the way things have been going for him.

Moments later, Fryatt, recently linked with loan moves to Barnsley and watched last night by Leeds United manager Brian McDermott, fired over in a half which saw the hosts produce the more cohesive moments, prompted by Quinn.

But a make-shift Town side, to their credit, kept their shape and contrived the chance they had been striving for on 36 minutes, with Calum Woods’s inviting cross headed over by the unmarked Oscar Gobern.

Last-ditch defence then denied George Boyd before Yannick Sagbo, operating in a left-sided attacking role and another wanting to make his mark, put two opportunities tamely off target.

Neither goalkeeper was employed to any great extent in the first period, although there was at least some element of competition, unlike the previous time sporting representatives from Hull and Huddersfield locked horns in a one-sided Super League rugby league play-off game last week.

Robins handed a debut to a third player in 18-year-old first-year professional Duane Holmes early in the second period, with Spanish striker Cristian Lopez also soon entering the fray as the Town boss took an opportunity to take a look at more of his fringe players in a competitive environment without points at stake.

Proschwitz then broke the deadlock with a fierce finish which gave Smithies no chance after clever work from Liam Rosenior and George Boyd.

While an increasingly youthful-looking Town showed plenty of zest and hard work, chances proved hard to come by.

Town’s final substitute Adam Hammill had a decent free-kick opportunity soon after coming on but fired over before another replacement Gedo, on his second debut for Hull, just failed to get a goalbound touch to Faye’s header following Boyd’s cross.

At the other end, Holmes shot at ex-Terriers loan goalkeeper Steve Harper before Proschwitz fired over wildly, but the night was still his.

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Hull City: Harper, Rosenior, Bruce, Faye, Dudgeon; Meyler, Quinn (Henderson 74), Sagbo; Boyd, Fryatt (Gedo 68), Proschwitz. Unused substitutes: Jakupovic, Davies, Huddlestone, Livermore, Gedo, Elmohamady.

Huddersfield Town: Smithies, Woods, Smith, Wallace, Carroll; Gobern, Southern, Norwood (Hammill 67); Carr (Holmes 50), Paterson (Lopez 53), Scannell. Unused substitutes: Bennett, Stead, Ridehalgh, Richards.

Referee: S Hooper (Wiltshire).