Hull City 0 Sheffield Wednesday 2: Owls take advantage as Walterball fails once more

But the facts are his Tigers side is not good enough, the reality that the punters are fed up with Walterball.

On the positive side... no, sorry.

The German was brought to provide entertainment. He claims he sees progress in his young side, chairman/owner Acun Ilicali says he has his support but 18 games into his tenure they are in the Championship relegation zone and out of the League Cup.

They have failed to score in three of their last four matches and Sheffield Wednesday have won more games on their ground this season than they have.

For the visitors it was like taking sweets from a baby and they should be angry with themselves that the margin of victory was so flattering but they did they job. With four straight defeats and six in their last nine winless matches, Hull are palpably not doing theirs.

It was reflected in a stadium that, the away end apart, was as flat as the football the home team served up until it turned increasingly toxic.

When the home supporters did rouse themselves it was to sing "You're getting sacked in the morning" and "We want Walter out", but Ilicali had told the local radio station pre-match that would not be happening regardless.

Walter pulled fuel on the fire by once more making no effort to acknowledge the supporters at full-time, shaking the hands of those in the away camp and heading straight down the tunnel, boos ringing in his ears.

The last 15 minutes turned into a medley from Now That's What I Call Sack the Coach. "Tim Walter, your football is s***" was perhaps the most cutting of at least six different ditties given the job he had been brought in to do.

None of that was the Owls fault. They spent 37 minutes frustrating their fans by failing to hit the target, Hull by allowing them so many chances but once Josh Windass put them in front, it was hard to see anything other than an away win.

In the end the pressure told in the way the visiting supporters would have least expected, but either side of Windass burying his penalty, James Beadle was forced to make two good saves.

After a dull start there was just a hint that a basketball match might break out as Windass dragged a shot wide after a long Djeidi Gassama run, then Kasey Palmer put a weak shot wide of the opposite goal and Pol Valentin played in Gassama to shoot just wide.

It was only a sign of things to come for one of the teams, though.

The Owls began to build up chance after chance and miss after miss.

Valentin, playing wide of midfield in a 4-4-2, brilliantly beat Cody Drameh at the byline but Alfie Jones threw himself in the way of Windass and Gassama strikes.

The deflection Charlie Hughes got on Marvin Johnson's shot made Ivor Pandur's job easy, another led to a wasted corner.

Shea Charles and Valentin both shot wide.

But if Windass hitting the target against his dad Dean's hometown team was uncharacteristic, the fact it came from a penalty was scarcely believable. When Charles was fouled it led to the Owl's first penalty in 559 days. Windass sent Pandur the wrong way.

Hull's first-half chances were about quality, certainly not quality.

After Palmer put a free-kick into the side netting, former Sheffield United midfielder took a shot from the Jamaican in his stride, turned on it and forced Beadle into a point-blank save. Minutes after the goal Beadle was at it again, tipping a Xavier Simons effort onto his right-hand post.

It did not placate the home fans. Every game Hull coach Walter stays in situ for further damages the reputation of populist Ilicali, who had told BBC radio before the match the German would keep his job regardless of the result.

Hull spent the second 45 minutes faffing about to little effect, which seems to be the definition of Walterball, at least in its Hull incarnation.

Until the 81st minute, though, there was always that nagging doubt for Wednesday.

Drameh made an important interception to stop Gassama picking Anthony Musava out, then another to stop Michael Smith scoring either side of a slow-mption save as a diving Beadle kept out Hughes.

But an Owls' counter-attack finally ended the uncertainty, Smith rounding off a move featuring Musaba and Marvin Johnson.

"You're nothing special, we lose every week," and the home fans, many as they headed for the exits.

That is not Wednesday's concern. How long can Hull keep pretending it is not theirs either?

Hull City: Pandur; Coyle, Jones, Hughes (Bedia 77), Drameh; Simons (Puerta 59), Slater (Mehlem HT); Longman (Omur HT), Palmer, Kamara (Burstow 85); Pedro.

Unused substitutes: Giles, McLoughlin, Jacob, Racioppi.

Sheffield Wednesday: Beadle; Valery, Bernard, M Lowe), Johnson; Valentin (Palmer 67), S Charles, Bannan (Iorfa 77), Gassama (Ingelsson 67); Ugbo (Smith HT), Windass (Musaba HT).

Unused substitutes: Chalobah, J Lowe, Paterson, Hamer.

Referee: O Langford (West Midlands).