Hull City 1-2 Peterborough United: Posh beat fellow Championship strugglers

Josh MagennisImage source, Rex Features
Image caption,

Josh Magennis' penalty to put Hull in front went high and wide

Siriki Dembele grabbed Peterborough's winner to haul them out of the Championship bottom three with victory away to fellow strugglers Hull City.

Dembele's calm finish, clipped over Matt Ingram 18 minutes from time, earned Posh their first away points of the season as they leapfrogged their hosts in the table.

Jack Taylor's long-range effort put Peterborough ahead just before the break, only for Josh Magennis to head an immediate equaliser for the Tigers.

But a dreadful second-half penalty miss by Magennis enabled Dembele - who also scored the decisive goal in his side's 2-1 triumph at Hull last season - to settle things again.

Hull looked better equipped to break the deadlock for most of the first half, with Tom Huddlestone pulling the strings in midfield and going close with a half-volley that grazed the post.

However, Huddlestone limped off with an apparent hamstring strain and, although Keane Lewis-Potter was denied at close range by David Cornell, the Tigers were unable to find a way through.

Peterborough opted to rely on the counter-attack and won a corner which brought about their opening goal, with Jorge Grant rolling the ball across quickly for Taylor to bend a 25-yard effort into the top corner for his first goal since February.

But the visitors' advantage lasted only two minutes as Callum Elder whipped a cross to the back post and Magennis timed his run perfectly to head the leveller on the stroke of half-time.

The same pair combined again soon after the restart, but this time the Northern Ireland forward was unable to connect cleanly with his header - and he squandered a far better opportunity shortly afterwards.

Dan Butler's clumsy 65th-minute challenge on Mallik Wilks earned Hull a spot-kick, but Magennis fired it high and wide and Peterborough capitalised on that miss to regain the lead seven minutes later.

Grant threaded a pass through for Dembele, who steadied himself before chipping a neat left-foot shot into the far corner and, despite a double change by Grant McCann, Hull failed to muster a response.

Substitute Tom Eaves had a late header clawed away by Cornell, while Dembele seemed to have put the result beyond doubt with a second goal on the break with the goalkeeper stranded, only to be adjudged offside.

Peterborough's victory lifts them to 20th in the table, while Hull - who have won just once since the opening day of the season - drop to 22nd.

Hull manager Grant McCann told BBC Radio Humberside:

"It just feels like it's not going our way. On another day, Josh scores that penalty and it could be a different game. He's usually really reliable from there.

"But that probably wasn't the reason we lost the game - we just didn't defend the second goal well enough and we didn't take our chances at the other end.

"I sensed we had a real control in the game and it feels like deja vu that we're playing very well but not taking the opportunities. But I can't fault the effort of the players, they've given us absolutely everything.

"We've got to stand up to the criticism that's coming our way and obviously I take full responsibility for the result tonight."

Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire:

"Everyone's got us down with 34 games to go and that's a lot of games. I can understand that because we'd lost six away games. But every one of those, apart from Sheffield United, we've pretty much been in it and tonight the players have shown good character.

"We had to get it sorted eventually - I believe there were some records being broken if we'd lost tonight. There's been a lot said about us going down with a whimper and my players had plenty of motivation to prove people wrong.

"That was Jack Taylor's best performance tonight - he was absolutely outstanding and it was an unbelievable goal, but then we switched off and it was a really soft one we conceded.

"With the penalty, we're due a break, but you have to earn it. The second goal was magnificent, a great bit of quality from the team."

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