‘I wanted to run down the touchline but there were no fans in’ - Hull City’s Grant McCann on late, late winner

It could scarcely have been scripted better.

Having come from 2-0 down with two goals in as many minutes created by their three half-time substitutes, the Tigers must have been mentally preparing for a fifth penalty shoot-out this season when George Honeyman lined up another corner in the fourth added minute.

Fleetwood goalkeeper Joe Hilton got it clear, only for Lewie Coyle to thrash the ball into the top corner from practically a different postcode to give his hometown club a dramatic win over his former one. Granted, this being the Football League Trophy the KCOM stands would hardly have been full to bursting but even a smattering of fans would have exploded.

“I wanted to run down the touchline but unfortunately there were no fans in,” said coach Grant McCann, overflowing with pride.

Right from the start of the season he has banged the drum for a long cup run, arguing it promotes qualities his side require in the League One title race.

“I told the players that’s the determination you need to win titles and cups, that drive they showed in the second half that they weren’t beaten,” he said. “We stuck to the task brilliantly, kept going down the sides, kept getting balls in the box and we felt it was coming.”

‘It’ had been nowhere to be seen in a first half McCann called “ very average”.

Less polite descriptions could have sufficed.

With only Alfie Jones keeping his place from Sunderland and one or two coming back from Covid-19 it was understandable Hull looked rusty but Fleetwood had not played since Boxing Day, and were much sharper.

They had almost all of the ball and three corners before the eighth-minute goal which allowed them to sit back and wait for nothing to happen.

Paddy Madden’s turn and shot let them watch Hull’s powder-puff passing in front of them.

The honourable exception was Dan Batty, who took on the role of quarter-back as Hull looked to go longer.

He was sacrificed for Honeyman in the half-time triple substitution which also brought on goalscorers Malik Wilks and Keane Lewis-Potter.

“I pulled him to one side at half-time and said it was nothing to do with his performance, it was more a shape change,” said McCann. “We wanted Regan (Slater) and George to get a wee bit more up against them.”

The subs had an almost immediate effect, Keane-Potter finding Wilks for a blocked shot, but when Wes Burns’s 53rd-minute shot deflected off Callum Elder and squeezed past Matt Ingram, Fleetwood sat back again. Only in the final half-hour did Hull look capable of making them regret it.

It started with Magennis hitting the side netting with Hilton helpless on the floor, and when Sean McLaughlin put an excellent chance over from the corner, it felt like it was not meant to be.

Hilton saved from Lewis-Potter, then low from Coyle.

Finally, in the 78th minute Wilks headed in Honeyman’s corner from yards out. Jones put his next delivery against the post, but Lewis-Potter snaffled the rebound.

Honeyman’s late corner looked to have been wasted until Coyle caused bedlam – but out of earshot in East Yorkshire living rooms.

Hull City: Ingram; Coyle, Smith, McLoughlin, Elder; A Jones, Batty (Honeyman 46), Slater; Mayer (Wilks 46), Magennis (Salam 65), Scott (Lewis-Potter 46). Unused substitutes: Long, Greaves, Leake.

Fleetwood Town: Hilton; Burns (Saunders 71), Hill, Connolly, Rydel; Whelan (Duffy 61), Coutts, J.Morris; S Morris (Matete 75), Madden, Camps. Unused substitutes: Borwick, Baggley, Boyle, Batch.

Referee: R Joyce (Teesside).

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