Hull City 0-2 Stoke City: Jacob Brown & Tom Ince score for Potters
- Published
- comments
Tom Ince combined with fellow former Hull City man Sam Clucas to earn Stoke their two-goal lead
Covid-hit Stoke City made light of the absence of manager Michael O'Neill as they comfortably ended a three-game winless Championship run with victory at Hull.
Scotland striker Jacob Brown headed the Potters' first-half opener before Tom Ince's neatly taken second after the break - both made by Sam Clucas - as confident Stoke rediscovered their touch in front of goal.
The Potters had a much-changed side, marshalled from the sidelines by Stoke assistant Dean Holden.
They had three players, 39-year-old Phil Jagielka and fellow new signing Lewis Baker and Manchester City youngster Taylor Harwood-Bellis all making their debut - and there was also a first league start for D'Margio Wright-Phillips, grandson of ex-Arsenal legend Ian Wright and son of another former England player, Shaun Wright-Phillips.
The shake-up paid dividends as the Potters climbed back up to eighth, within four points of a play-off place, as they generally outplayed a relegation-threatened Tigers side whose own winless league run was extended to five games.
To add to Hull's misery both goals were created by Tigers old boy Clucas, who crossed for Brown to head the opener on 22 minutes, then squared precisely to his right to set up the killer second on 50 minutes, as Ince ran on to fire home a low left-foot special from 20 yards.
As well as bringing back Tommy Smith and Josh Tymon from the team who beat Leyton Orient in the FA Cup third round last weekend, Stoke also preferred Jack Bonham in goal to Adam Davies - and he kept a second successive clean sheet.
Newly arrived from Derby, Phil Jagielka enjoyed his seventh clean sheet in 21 Championship games this season
It was also a seventh clean sheet in 21 Championship appearances this season for the ageless Jagielka, who showed all his hallmarks of experience and quality at the back, having only signed from up-for-sale Derby on Saturday.
He and another of Stoke's ex-Hull men James Chester were the cornerstone of Stoke's fourth win in five away games, as the hosts were limited to just one shot on target.
At the other end of the age scale, 20-year-old Wright-Phillips also caught the eye, going closest with one shot from the edge of the box which whistled narrowly over.
Who's next?
Hull have another tough home game on Wednesday when they host third-placed Blackburn Rovers, while Stoke are back on home soil on Saturday, when they play leaders Fulham.
Hull City manager Grant McCann:
"We were nowhere near good enough and got out of the game what we deserved. But I have an honest and young group of players who know when they have not performed.
"They don't need me shouting and screaming at them. They just need to make sure they are better in the next game, because too many of them were off their game.
"It was a poor performance from start to finish. There were mistakes made for their goals, but this game was not about individuals. We weren't good enough collectively."
Stoke City assistant manager Dean Holden told BBC Radio Stoke:
"We had good performances throughout the team. We'd have settled for 2-0 away from home. But, for us to go toe-to-toe with Fulham next week, we need to build on the confidence we get from that.
"We've restricted them to just one shot on target, which is not easy to do, to restrict a side with Tom Eaves' aerial threat. And we were devastating on the counter-attack.
"We threatened behind their backline all afternoon, especially down the left. We could have got more goals and been a bit cuter with the final pass, but we still created enough big chances."