Hull City 0-1 Charlton Athletic: Jason Pearce winner lifts Addicks out of bottom three
- Published
Jason Pearce scored his first goal of the season to give Charlton victory over Hull
Charlton Athletic returned to action after the coronavirus pandemic with a crucial win at Hull City in the battle against relegation from the Championship.
Jason Pearce's first-half winner lifted the Addicks out of the bottom three, with Hull dropping into the relegation zone after their 10th defeat in 12 league games.
Charlton captain Pearce got on the end of Tomer Hemed's near-post flick-on from a corner to put the visitors in front with his first goal of the season.
Efforts on target were scarce after that, with Charlton striker Macauley Bonne guiding a free header wide midway through the second period.
Hull had threatened early on through Jon Toral and Josh Bowler, while Tigers substitute Martin Samuelsen forced a smart save from Charlton goalkeeper Dillon Phillips with four minutes left.
Charlton cope with Taylor absence
The enforced break from Championship fixtures has been an eventful one for Charlton, with a boardroom row escalating and eventually a new owner, Paul Elliott, taking control of the club earlier this month.
On the pitch, they will be without top scorer Lyle Taylor for the remainder of the campaign.
The 30-year-old striker has elected not to play again for the Addicks as he does not want to risk getting injured before his contract expires at the end of June and put a potentially lucrative move away from The Valley in jeopardy.
Bonne and Hemed led the line in the absence of Taylor, who scored 11 of Charlton's 44 league goals before the season was suspended, and the latter played a key role in the visitors' winner.
MacDonald returns after recovering from cancer
Like Charlton, Hull have lost first-team players who are approaching the end of their deals with the club.
Neither captain Eric Lichaj nor vice-captain Jackson Irvine will play for the Tigers again, meaning they handed Jordy de Wijs the armband at the KCOM Stadium.
He was partnered in the centre of defence by Angus MacDonald, who was making his first senior appearance for almost two years after recovering from bowel cancer.
Before facing Charlton, Angus MacDonald had not featured in a first-team game for Hull since August 2018
MacDonald, 27, was diagnosed in August 2019, having missed most of the 2018-19 season with a calf injury and then deep vein thrombosis.
Grant McCann's side were eighth in the table and a point off the play-off spots after their victory at Sheffield Wednesday on 1 January, but have nosedived since winning at Hillsborough.
Hull's run-in contains games against fellow strugglers Middlesbrough, Wigan and Luton, which could go a long way to determining their Championship status.
Match reaction
Hull manager Grant McCann told BBC Radio Humberside:
"I thought in general play we did really well. The most disappointing thing for us was conceding from a set-play.
"We switch off, we lose the first header, we lose the second header and allow a tap-in our box.
"We're never happy when we lose a game. What we've got to do is make sure we take the positives out of the game, We've got eight big games left and it's really tight down there.
"There are going to be lots more twists and turns, I know we'll get better and sharper as the games come, and we need to start that next week now."
Charlton boss Lee Bowyer told BBC Radio London:
"I think it was well deserved. From the first whistle we looked sharp.
"To get the goal quite early on was nice, we settled down and got into some good areas. On another day, we could have scored another two or three goals.
"A clean sheet as well - I'm very pleased.
"We're out of the bottom three and now it's in our hands. It's a good start but it's not over yet. We've got to keep fighting for every point and the players did that today. I'm really proud of them."