Hull City 4 Sheffield Wednesday 2: Glorious Twelfth for Tigers and hat-trick hero Ozan Tufan as Owls capitulate in sorry second half in Championship derby
In the event, it was Hull’s day on the glorious 12th. Their season is up and running in majestic fashion. After the misery of midweek against Doncaster Rovers, they dined out at a Yorkshire rivals expense four days on.
Taking pride of place was the majestic Ozan Tufan, who became just the second City player to score a hat-trick since Adel Hernandez fired a treble against Burton in 2017. Coincidentally on this very same day. It was the first treble of Tufan’s career.
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Hide AdFor Sheffield Wednesday, it was a second successive league reverse. A second-half performance which saw them totally capitulate was far more worrying than events against Southampton eight days ago.
Wednesday, who saw Barry Bannan come off at the break, were subjugated totally in the second half. The class act from a Hull perspective was Tufan, who helped himself to a fine hat-trick - headlined by an exquisite second and a cool third.
Plenty has made about what Hull need in the remaining days of the window. Here was a reminder of what is at their disposal with the classy Turk putting gloss on some fine work in pre-season.
At half-time, the game was level at 1-1. Given what happened in the second half, it was amazing to think that Wednesday actually took the lead.
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Hide AdIn the first half, Hull gorged on possession, 73 per cent of it. But while they floated around like butterfly at times, they stung like a bee. They found their sting on the restart.
Wednesday hung in, in the classic traditions of a newly-promoted away side still finding their feet. They got a nice bonus completely against the run of play on 36 minutes.
Callum Paterson showed street-smart to take a quickly-taken free-kick. Hull clocked off and Dominic Iorfa’s cutback found Juan Delgado, whose first-timer flew into the net, via a significant deflection off the chest of McLoughlin. It was as good as it got and the only crumb of consolation.
It was harsh upon Hull. Yet for all their territory and some promising enough positions, they lacked cutting edge. Devis Vasquez, preferred to Cam Dawson in the big selection call for Wednesday, fielded a low shot comfortably enough from Regan Slater. That was about it in terms of activity, before picking the ball out of his net shortly before the interval.
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Hide AdClearly up for it, boyhood Blade Slater had earlier picked the pocket of Bannan, only for the Owls captain to recover with a key last-ditch sliding challenge as Slater threatened the goal.
Jason Lokilo, handed a league debut for City, was an outball on the left. On the other flank, Lewie Coyle saw a lot of the ball as well - one dangerous cross just evading Liam Delap. The game would then liven up by virtue of two goals.
It was lively in the second half, certainly from a Hull perspective, with home fans in the 20,410 crowd lapping it up.
The fun from Hull’s standpoint began courtesy of Tufan’s sublime long-ranger which flew past the motionless Vasquez.
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Hide AdHis hat-trick goal was not as eye-catching but still unerring and he coolly steered home low past the Owls keeper.
Wednesday were on the floor and changes failed to alter the flow. The action was all one way.
A woeful blind pass from Michael Ihiekwe provided a gift from substitute Aaron Connolly for a fourth. A stoppage-time strike from Michael Smith reduced the arrears and was flattering for Wednesday, who were certainly more than two goals inferior to Hull on the day.
Hull City: Ingram; Coyle, Jones, McLoughlin, Greaves; Slater, Seri; Lokilo, Tufan (Connolly 79), Traore; Delap (Estupinan 72). Substitutes unused: Lo-Tutala, Longman, Simons, Fleming, A Smith, Christie, Green.
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Hide AdSheffield Wednesday: Vasquez; Iorfa, Ihiekwe, B Diaby, Famewo; Bakinson (Byers 62), Bannan (Vaulks 45); Paterson, Windass (Musaba 62), Delgado (Fletcher 72); Gregory (M Smith 62). Substitutes unused: Dawson, Palmer, Valentin, Bernard.
Referee: M Donohue (Greater Manchester).
Attendance: 20,410.