Barnsley 0-2 Hull City: Tigers beat fellow strugglers to end five-game losing run

George Honeyman scores for HullImage source, Rex Features
Image caption,

George Honeyman joined Hull from Sunderland in the summer of 2019

Hull City ended a run of five successive Championship defeats as their first away goals since the opening day of the season gave them victory at fellow strugglers Barnsley.

George Honeyman put the Tigers ahead by slotting home the rebound after Tykes keeper Brad Collins had prevented a deflection off Jasper Moon from finding the net for an own goal.

Barnsley beat Derby in midweek after a run of seven losses in a row, but their hopes of a second victory since the departure of former head coach Markus Schopp came to nothing in a disappointing performance.

Nathan Baxter, making his first league start in goal for Hull, kept out a couple of Callum Brittain shots but was never seriously tested and Keane Lewis-Potter made the points safe with the second after being played in by Honeyman.

The win lifted Hull - who had only scored nine goals in their 16 previous games, the lowest total in the division - above their opponents into 22nd place, three points behind Cardiff and Peterborough.

And Barnsley must now look to use the two-week international break to find a replacement for Schopp, with caretaker boss Joseph Laumann unable to conjure a second win since being put in charge, having initially chosen to leave Mads Andersen, Callum Styles and Victor Adeboyejo, who all started against Derby, on the bench.

Image source, PA Media
Image caption,

Joseph Laumann first joined Barnsley to work under Markus Schopp's predecessor Valerien Ismael

The home side had the best opportunity of the opening half hour as Josh Benson's free-kick found Devante Cole six yards out, but he was unable to control his header, which flew over the bar.

However, they found themselves behind as Honeyman coolly slotted home and it took a good save by Collins after the break to deny Greg Docherty, with Josh Magennis firing the follow-up wide.

Barnsley's hopes faded when Lewis-Potter made it two and it could have been even worse for the home side when he set up sub Ryan Longman, whose shot thumped against the post.

Brittain was just off target in Barnsley's final attack of note before collecting a fifth yellow card of the season, which means he will be suspended for their next game against Fulham.

Barnsley caretaker boss Joseph Laumann told BBC Radio Sheffield:

"The decision making in the last third (of the pitch) was not good. Sometimes when we had a chance to shoot, we passed, and when we had to cross, we shot.

"In the last game, there was a lot more forward running, we were a lot more decisive, and today it was like one more pass, one more and we need to learn from it.

"It's a big challenge, but we have enough quality to come out of the bottom (three).

"The loss hurts me a lot, but I didn't think about (keeping) the job, I just don't like losing."

Hull head coach Grant McCann told BBC Radio Humberside:

"It's a big win, given the positions of the teams in the league and a two-week international break now has probably come at the wrong time for us.

"We had to show the structure, the shape and the organisation because we know we've got goals in this team when we've got that right and today proved that.

"It's just about belief and confidence. We'll be in next week and working. For me, it's not a time to rest, we need to continue to work on what we're doing.

"The lads were throwing bodies in the way and making sure we weren't going to concede against a Barnsley team that had just come off the back of a good result. It's always a tough place to come, Oakwell, but I thought we were excellent."

Sorry, we can't display this part of the article any more.

Related internet links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.