Hidde ter Avest celebrates his winning goal for Oxford United against Hull City
Hidde ter Avest brought Oxford United’s eight-match winless streak to an end with the winning goal against Hull City on his first start for the club.
The summer signing from Utrecht popped up at the far post to convert Greg Leigh’s deep cross, after Tim Walter’s away side had dominated the first half without making the most of their chances.
Mohamed Belloumi hit the post for Hull and set up chances for Kasey Palmer and Xavier Simons but the Us bounced back from their first home defeat of the season at the weekend to Swansea.
Defeat at the Kassam Stadium stretches the Tigers’ own run without a win to six matches to leave them three points above the relegation zone.
Oxford’s home form has kept their heads above the waters of the bottom three this season, but losing at home to Swansea City at the weekend saw the Kassam fortress breached for the first time and introduced doubt.
They were second-best in terms of possession and territory to Hull, but after the visitors were profligate in the first half, Des Buckingham’s side defended well after they had grabbed the only goal.
Hull’s finishing was woeful in the first half as Palmer and Simons skied decent opportunities and Abdulkadir Omur was denied by goalkeeper Jamie Cumming after a one-two with Palmer had split the home defence.
Leigh and Ter Avest, playing as wing-backs as Buckingham started with three at the back, rehearsed their goal to carve out the best chance of the half just before the break. The left sided Leigh curled in a cross which Ter Avest headed goalwards, and goalkeeper Ivor Pandur clawed away.
The next time Leigh found his fellow wing-back was 10 minutes into the second half and this time the Dutchman made it count. Tyler Goodrham created the space with a switch of play to Leigh and his cross from deep was chested and then volleyed in from close range by Ter Avest.
Hull once again dictated possession for the remainder of the game but the only time they truly threatened the Oxford goal was when substitute Chris Bedia attacked a cross at the near post but could only volley across the face of goal.
Oxford United manager Des Buckingham told BBC Radio Oxford:
“This year has been about making sure we pick up points as we go and we’ve managed to do that in seven of the last nine games.
“The win is always better, especially at home, we know how important that is to keep us where we want to be. It was a different type of performance with a different set-up, and that was the pleasing thing that got the result.
“We knew Hull would want to play and we did a bit of work on that last week.
“We know we are one of the smallest clubs in the league and so have to be extremely smart in the way we set up.”
Hull City head coach Tim Walter told BBC Radio Humberside:
“We lost again and that’s the problem at the moment. It’s all about development and improvement and I can see the signs but when something happened against us we couldn’t find the red line again.
“That’s a problem, that we are not resilient enough and for a young squad that is important, and to get in the right moments.
“All we can do is stick together, work and fight hard against these situations. It’s not easy for us but they are good boys and keep working.
“We had a lot of chances and if we score goals everything is different. They created brilliant chances but in the end it’s about finishing.”
