Hull City 0 Barnsley 2: Tykes are value for money with derby victory

WIth his £2 tickets for juniors during half-term week, new Hull City owner Acun Ilicali did a wonderful job of putting bums on long-untouched MKM Stadium seats but if his team keeps producing performances like the first 45 minutes in particular, he will struggle to keep them. The 16,421 crowd was the biggest here for football since Tottenham Hotspur in 2017 but at times it bordered on child abuse.

The boos that greeted the half-time and even more so full-time sounded deep and old but the message was loud and clear. They were dreadful.

If Barnsley could take any disappointment in their first away win since triumphing at Huddersfield Town in April 2021 when they were promotion-chasers, not basement dwellers it was that they only won 2-0.

During a scintilating first half of football they were far better than Hull than that.

Thank goodness for the 13-point cushion to the relegation zone the Tigers plumped up in the afterglow of Ilicali’s takeover because, without a win in six, they are relying on it now. Peterborough United will hope for a new manager bounce, Reading will too, Hull have splattered on the pavement since replacing their League One title-winning coach Grant McCann with Shota Arveladze, working in English football for the first time.

That was of no concern to a bottom-of-the-table Barnsley.

“It’s just like watching Brazil,” sang the away fans with a nod to the glory days as their side fizzed the ball about like the last six months had been an audaciously cunning trick to lull sides into a very false sense of security.

For the Hull fans, it was more like watching San Marino.

Keane Lewis-Potter volleyed a Di’Shon Bernard cross wide in the second minute and curled just over the top corner in the 44th but what happened in between was dire.

Hull actually did a good job of constructing attacks – just for the opposition.

Barnsley played with the confidence of a team that read the league table upside down by mistake even if it took 15 minutes to give full debutant third-choice goalkeeper Harvey Cartwright his first serious save to make, denyng Domingos Quina.

Bad as Hull were, it should not detract from the quality of football January signings Quina and Amine Bassi in particular orchestrated, but everyone played a part in.

A lovely pass from Callum Styles, playing on the right of a 4-4-2 which left the midfield seriously unshackled, out to Remy Vita showed the belief coursing through the side even if the free-kick won came to nothing.

So it was no surprise when they took the lead in the 27th minute, Hull surrendering possession to Claudio Gomes, who allowed Carlton Morris to pull the ball back for Styles. The finish was scruffy and scuffy but Barnsley could not care less.

Cartwright got down low to save from Gomes but was nearly embarrassed by Bassi’s presumably swerving shot, getting inside it and nearly fumbling into his net. Fortunately his mind was sharp enough to recover quickly.

Barnsley shook off Lewis-Potter’s second effort to deservedly double their lead. After another cheap concession, Morris teed himself up to thump a volley.

Hull were less awful in the second half, even if it took 60 minutes for Arveladze to make a change – he made two – but that might have been as much down to caution on the part of a Barnsley side who probably thought three goals away from home was pushing their luck, given this was the only time they had scored two on their travels this season. They have only scored 14 at Oakwell in the Championship, for that matter.

Hull had their first effort on target in the 51st minute, but Sean McLoughlin headed the corner straight at Brad Collins.

Tyler Smith made him work harder when put through by Regan Slater in the 71st minute, but the goalkeeper still came out on top in the one-on-one, saving with his legs.

If Smith improved things from the bench, fellow sub Greg Docherty comfortably cleared Bernard’s head trying to switch the play, to more boos.

If Barnsley’s fans were – as they gleefully sang in not quite so diplomatic language – taking the mickey, Hull’s joined in during the second half, chanting “We’ve got the ball” when the visitors allowed it to happen.

The Reds showed themselves what they are capable of, particularly now they have Quina and Bassi’s ingenuity but they have a lot more to do and will struggle to find opponents as accommodating as this.

Hull need to liven up or risk sleep-walking into trouble they looked to have escaped.

Hull City: Cartwright; Bernard, McLoughlin, Greaves, Fleming; Slater, Smallwood (Docherty 60); Longman (Walsh 78), Honeyman, Lewis-Potter; Forss (T Smith, 60). Unused substitutes: A Jones, Moncur, Huddlestone, Robson.

Barnsley: Collins; J Williams, Helik, Andersen, Wolfe (Benson 83); Styles (Cole 87), Gomes, Quina, Vita; Morris, Bassi (Brittain 76). Unused substitutes: Walton, Moon, Hondermarck, Halme.

Referee: S Martin (Staffordshire)