Lessons to be quickly learnt as Hull City v Hull City ends in Championship survival - the final word

Victory at the home of the world's oldest naval vessel still in commission was all the Tigers needed for Championship survival.

After the miserable year they have had, it was too big an ask.

To be relying on Luton Town, who were in last season's Premier League and were on a three-game winning streak, losing was not what anyone envisioned when Hull just missed last year's play-offs.

Once the Hatters went 5-1 down at West Bromwich Albion (they finished 5-3), phones could be put away – this was just about Portsmouth v Hull, or maybe Hull v Hull.

Having conceded their customary early second-half goal, they did not concede again, banking amber shirts in a 5-4-1 for the last quarter of an hour against hosts with no need or real desire to throw the kitchen sink. A 1-1 draw kept them up on goal difference at Luton’s expense.

Hull v Hull has been an all-too regular fixture these last 12 months.

Sacking Liam Rosenior – now at Strasbourg, chasing the Champions League – was even more of a disasterstroke than it looked last May.

His football was apparently too boring. Without him, Hull were the Championship’s lowest scorers.

A second goal on the back of Matt Crooks' in the 18th minute would have eased Saturday’s torture for the 17 coachloads who set off at 4am.

Joe Gelhardt and Pompey’s Conor Shaughnessy stopped the former scoring a couple of good chances. When the second rebounded to Joao Pedro, the shot hit his team-mate.

"We need a couple of players that can score and a couple that can support us in that, and with more and better ways to create," said Selles.

And they need to do it quickly.

Rosenior's sacking was swift, his replacement slow. The out-of-work Tim Walter flew in to say hello on June 4, but did not start until July 1. Naive football and poor man-management were not worth the wait.

Signings were even slower.

At Doncaster Rovers for their third of six pre-season games, 14 players had left and only two arrived. The mess was obvious then.

Of the 15 recruited by August’s deadline, only Abu Kamara, Gustavo Puerta and Charlie Hughes kicked off judgement day; Mason Burstow and Kasey Palmer were subs.

Anterior cruciate ligament injuries ended Liam Millar, Mohamed Belloumi and Eliot Matazo's seasons. Louie Barry was injured soon after joining on loan from Aston Villa. All looked big signings.

"Millar's been telling me all these good things he's been doing," joshed January signing Crooks. "He's the Canadian Messi by all accounts!"

Proper pre-seasons are important in injury prevention.

"Today we need to celebrate and tomorrow we need to finalise all the pre-season games and have meetings with Jared (Dublin) and his (recruitment) team next week," stressed Selles, coach No 3.

"Then we need an entire pre-season to work together the way we want... where you can make mistakes and it's not punished."

He added that "If I can take the call, I will take it on the plane and tell him (Dublin) what I need."

Ex-Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Martin Hodge is set to join Dublin's team and a post-season review of Selles' position is expected but more instability would seem unwise, more procrastination stupid.

Selles is not blameless – conservative substitutions and being unable to get his side to knuckle down defensively after half-times contributed – but had the league started when he did, Hull would be 14th.

He managed Saturday well, starting Crooks deep in midfield and shifting Joseph wide to maximise the number of Hull players with an eye for goal. They began well and battened down the hatches later.

He also got the psychology right.

"The music was so loud you almost couldn't hear someone half a metre away," he said of the pre-match dressing room. “We didn't need more words.

"My feeling before the game was that to score we needed to go all in and we may concede but with the extra defender (later) we could close (Josh) Murphy and by being a little bit aggressive in the set pieces we could get the result."

He and chairman Acun Ilicali “talk about absolutely everything and the main thing is he likes and supports the way I do things – or that's what he tells me.”

Hull's home form was the Championship's worst in 2024-25.

"If next season we can create an atmosphere in the stadium and that togetherness we had away, we'll be in a really good place," said Selles.

Saturday has to be a low point, not a stop-off like Luton’s last year.

"This team needs to more aggressive, more energetic, needs to score more goals and to be one of the most intense teams," outlined Selles.

Time to get cracking.

Portsmouth: Killip; Devlin, Shaughnessy (Poole 62), Atkinson, Ogilvie; Potts (Dozzell 72), Lang (Saydee HT); Blair (Ritchie 15) Pack (Hayden 72), Murphy; Bishop. Unused substitutes: O’Mahony, Schmid, Gordon, Bramall.

Hull City: Pandur; L Coyle, Egan, Hughes, McLoughlin, Crooks, Puerta; Kamara (Lincoln 62), Gelhardt (Palmer 62), Joseph (Burstow 70); Pedro (Jones 80). Unused substitutes: Burns, Alzate, Drameh, Lo-Tutala, Amrabat.

Referee: J Busby (Oxfordshire).