Penalty decision key behind Hull City defeat

HULL City produced one of their best away performances of the season only to be undone by two goals in four minutes.
Hull City's Mallik Wilks: Scored.Hull City's Mallik Wilks: Scored.
Hull City's Mallik Wilks: Scored.

Hull took the lead five minutes before half-time through Mallik Wilks, but the lead disappeared after the break as Darnell Fisher was fouled inside the penalty area and Paul Gallagher made no mistake in firing home the equaliser from the spot.

Then substitute Alan Browne met Jayden Stockley’s cross from the left to head Preston into a lead they protected to the final whistle.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Hull manager Grant McCann said: “For large periods it was a good away performance, it was probably the best we’ve played for a while in terms of overall performance.

“Preston ramped it up a bit, made a couple of substitutions and injected a bit of energy into the game. The first goal is shocking really, it is a mistake by the referee. I thought Fisher’s gone down very easily if you watch it back.

“We knew that leading into this game Preston had the most penalties in the league and it seems they always happen at that end.

“We were defending well and dealing with things, but the second goal is not good enough from us. We spoke at half-time about the balls coming into our box and the distances between the back four. That’s avoidable, we should have defended that.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We tried to make a couple of positive changes to try and get back in, we had a couple of half-chances that we just didn’t take and after that I can’t remember Preston having a chance.”

Preston North End: Rudd, Fisher, Bauer, Davies, Hughes, Pearson, Gallagher (Potts 89), Barkhuizen, Harrop, Sinclair (Stockley 58), Maguire (Browne 59). Unused substitutes: Clarke, Rafferty, Ripley, Nugent.

Hull City: Long, Pennington, Burke, De Wijs, Elder (Maddison 90), Da Silva Lopes, Irvine, Wilks, Honeyman (Balogh 77), Magennis, Eaves (Toral 64). Unused substitutes: Stewart, Ingram, McKenzie, McLoughlin.

Referee: S Martin (Staffordshire).