Hull City's pussy cats wave the white flag in 8-0 defeat to Wigan Athletic

When you are 7-0 down at half-time, there is no coming back. The pathetic way Hull City surrendered to Wigan Athletic yesterday evening makes it almost unimaginable that in terms of their “fight” against relegation to League One, they will be coming back either.

This was an absolutely pathetic performance from a team which has won once in the league since New Year's Day.

Wigan Athletic hit the woodwork, missed two good chances and still managed to score seven goals before the break, six in the second quarter.

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By full-time it was 8-0, equalling the 109-year record for Hull's biggest defeat.

THREE: Wigan Athletic score their third of eight goals against Hull CityTHREE: Wigan Athletic score their third of eight goals against Hull City
THREE: Wigan Athletic score their third of eight goals against Hull City

This five o'clock kick-off should have been shown after the watershed it was so brutal. The violence, though, was almost all self-inflicted. Wigan's improved form pre-dated the lockdown, but they cannot have believed their luck. They came into the game the second-lowest scorers in the division but even if their 12-point deduction for entering administration is applied they are level on points with the Tigers, or rather Pussy Cats, and their goal difference was already better. Hull's dropped below Barnsley's during the second half.

Maybe this is the nadir, the point at which Hull shake themselves into a stirring final two games of the season and rescue their Championship status but you would need a really vivid imagination to even contemplate that after such a poor surrender.

It would be a shock if coach Grant McCann survived this, or even wanted to.

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The blame for Hull's pitiful plight can be spread many ways but the only fingers to be pointed during the game were at the Hull players, in kits as white as the flags they waved in the first 45 minutes.

It felt like the club gave up long ago, slashing for years at their wage bill like it was their own wrists, and the players certainly caught the mood with this application to join League One. It was not that none of them cared but even when they showed it, it was as badly misdirected as their passing.

Not that it was easy finding a Hull player at times. Midway through the first half, George Honeyman lingered on the ball desperately hoping for a team-mate to show for him as Wigan players respectfully stood off. In the end he had no choice but to play the ball backwards to Leonardo da Silva Lopes.

Honeyman sounded close to tears as he screamed at his team-mates to stop feeling sorry for themselves and that was only after the third goal. His rage saw him bodycheck Kieran Dowell to pick up a cheap booking seconds later. Jon Toral was also booked for taking his frustration out on a home player.

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Earlier, in the drinks break, Josh Magennis had angrily shouted in the face of Matthew Pennington, demanding he “switch on”. It was hardly what a defender clearly short of confidence needed, and in a near-empty stadium, it was there for everyone – particularly the Wigan players – to hear.

It took all of 20 seconds for George Long to be forced into a save, by Joe Williams, and only 60 more from them to go in front. The corner was played short and Dowell crossed it for Kal Naismith to head in very easily. It was the fifth game running Hull had conceded first in.

McCann, crouched in his technical area, was unmoved.

When Naismith curled a good chance wide under negligible pressure in the sixth minute, and when Jamal Lowe missed the target when played in by Antonee Robinson in the 12th minute, you just wondered if Wigan might be made to pay for their wastefulness, laughable as that soon became. David Marshall even had a save to make, even if it was from Honeyman's overhit pass for Magennis.

Whatever McCann had to say in the first time-out, it did not have desired effect – at least not for his team.

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The second period started with Marshall giving the ball away but Jon Toral's shot with the keeper out of his net hit Cedric Kipre.

Kieffer Moore applied the turn to a neat finish, Naismith hit the post, Jamal Lowe found Dowell for a third, then scored the fourth. Spectators are not supposed to be allowed into these games but on each occasion there were 10 in white shirts.

The fourth came minutes after Josh Bowler was withdrawn, Dan Batty brought on to stiffen the midfield as McCann changed from the 4-2-3-1 he has been criticised for being wedded to into a 4-3-1-2.

It was Batty who was caught in possession for the sixth, halfway into his own half. Dowell carried the ball into the Hull area and scored his second goal, adding to the diving header by former Barnsley striker Kieffer Moore three minutes earlier.

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Even Marshall was showboating, turning a poor touch into a pirouette before playing the ball out to left-back Robinson.

Williams made it seven in stoppage time, the first time since Watford versus Blackpool in January 2015 a team had scored so many goals in the first half of a Football League game

Three more Hull players were withdrawn at half-time, and before the hour was up all five substitutes had been poured on to no avail. As if behind-closed-doors matches did not feel and sound enough like training exercises at it is.

At least things improved – Hull only lost the second half 1-0.

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For the record, it was Dowell who scored the eighth, reaching his hat-trick with a 66th-minute shot against the post and a one-arm salute. At that point, the Latics decided their guests had suffered enough. They had no desire to chase Manchester City's 10-1 win over Huddersfield Town in 1987, the only time more carnage has been wrought in a second-tier match in the last 33 years.

Substitute Tom Eaves had a header cleared off the line shortly afterwards but there was no way his side was going to score.

Referee Tony Harrington appeared to give a penalty but before Eaves could take it, changed his mind. You would say it was that sort of day for Hull City but, like the word “embarrassing” it did not come close to doing it justice.

Wigan Athletic: Marshall; Byrne, Kipre, Balogun (, Robinson (Pearce 57); Morsy, Williams (Evans 57); Naismith, Dowell (Roberts 72), Lowe; Moore (Massey 57).

Not used: Jones, Obi, Mlakar, Dobre, Gelhardt.

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Hull City: Long; Pennington (Tafazolli 46), Burke, de Wijs, Elder; Honeyman, da Silva Lopes; Bowler (Batty 34), Toral, Wilks (Eaves 46); Magennis (Lewis-Potter 57).

Not used: Ingram, MacDonald, McLoughlin, Scott.

Referee: T Harrington (Teesside).

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