Leeds United 1 Hull City 0: McGregor gifts derby win to Whites

The Scottish international goalkeeper gifted the hosts what proved to be the only goal of the game as Leeds returned to the play-off places.

With the visitors in no danger as Ondrej Mazuch rolled the ball back to McGregor, who took far too long on the ball before sending his clearance straight to Pablo Hernandez.

The finish that followed was exquisite, the ball being chipped inch perfectly over the stranded McGregor and underneath the crossbar.

But there can be no denying that without the helping hand from the City goalkeeper, Leeds would not have won this ‘East-versus-West’ encounter.

What made falling behind just before the half hour harder to take for City was they had been in control at that stage with only some fine goalkeeping from Felix Wiedwald keeping the score goalless.

Jon Toral then struck a post for Hull just after the opener and the visitors continued to dominate possession after the restart.

Leeds, though, were much more organised after half-time and limited Nigel Adkins’ men to a header from Kevin Stewart that he really should have done better with after being picked out by Jon Toral.

TALKING POINT

Leonid Slutsky’s final few weeks as City manager saw his players display a brittleness that suggested a second relegation in as many seasons could be on the cards.

This, however, was a world away from those collapses against Sheffield United and Bristol City to suggest Nigel Adkins is starting to have an impact.

Hull were the better team for long periods at the home of a United side who knew victory would bring a return to the top six.

But for Allan McGregor’s howler, who knows how this could have panned out with City’s ability to break at speed meaning Leeds had a dinstinctly uncomfortable afternoon before sealing the points.