Swansea 2-2 Hull
Match Report
We never saw that coming! Today, my grandfather, brother, and I made one of the longest trips in the Championship to Swansea. Instead of taking Tigers Travel, we opted to drive south and meet up with a Swansea supporter and friend, who warmly welcomed us into his home and kindly drove us to and from the stadium to watch a very unsatisfying, yet typical, Hull City performance.
With two harrowing defeats and an unpromising start to the new campaign, we were pessimistic travelling down the M5, believing that a victory was the only good outcome for us. This was going to be a big ask, especially with Swansea’s strong start to the season: two wins, one draw, and one defeat in their last five, putting them just outside the playoffs. The Swans have done some promising business in the transfer market—much better than us—so it was always going to be a tough day at the Swansea.com Stadium.
Sergej Jakirović made three changes to the starting eleven he fielded against Bristol before the international break: Joseph, Coyle, and debutant Amir Hadžiahmetović started ahead of Ndala, Drameh, and Slater. That meant, in a 4-2-3-1 formation, we lined up as follows: Pandur in goal; Giles, Egan, Hughes, and Coyle as the back four; Lundstram and Hadžiahmetović as the defensive midfielders; Joseph, Gelhardt, and Akintola as the attacking trio, with McBurnie (formerly of the Swansea parish) leading the line.
The home side came out of the blocks full of vim and vigour. They were stringing passes together nicely and working the ball forwards neatly. We struggled to keep possession and had to suffer 45 minutes on the back foot. Firing many balls into the box, enjoying 73% of possession, and having five shots to our two, it felt inevitable that they would open the scoring at some stage.
And they did in the 40th minute. A sense of danger hovered over our half of the pitch with the Swans creating chance after chance in this period of the game. We were lucky they did not score more. Eventually, through small intricate passes around the box, they opened our defence, allowing Yalcouye to thread the ball to an unopposed Vipotnik. From six yards, he was able to turn and place the ball into the bottom-left corner of the goal. Heads in hands, the 400 Tigers supporters behind the goal were fearing the worst—would this be a repeat of Bristol and Blackburn? Thankfully, it wasn’t.
Unexpectedly, just before the break, we had one of our only counterattacks in the 45th minute. Hadžiahmetović was trapped with the ball on the right wing, but he managed to switch play out to the left to Ryan Giles, who had plenty of time and space to run with it. His powerful and accurate low cross into the box was put into the net by a sliding McBurnie, whose outstretched toe had enough power to tap it home. We were back in it, but those in the home stands must have been wondering how they weren’t two to the good.
Swansea matched their brilliant first-half start at the beginning of the second, scoring just 12 minutes after the restart. It was Yalcouye’s powerful drive through the middle of the park that completely caught our defence off guard. He passed it left to Inoussa, who crossed it into the box, where an unmarked Pereira easily placed it into the back of the net. The amount of space he had made it seem like he was offside. Questionable defending from the men in amber.
That was their only good spell during the second period, and for the rest of the match it was us who dominated. Like Swansea in the first half, we had countless chances to draw level, but we were unable to take them. Full credit has to go to their keeper as well, who kept shots from Joseph, Destan (a debutant who was substituted on), and Ndala (also subbed on) out of the net.
It was squeaky-bum time in the 90th minute, and with nothing going our way, I could not see how we would rescue a point. But, when the fourth official announced that there would be seven additional minutes, a sense of optimism descended upon the faithful Hull fans, who had travelled around 600 miles altogether. Suddenly, a last-minute opportunity fell our way.
From range, Akintola crossed the ball into the box, which was headed right by their defender. Giles recycled the ball, but it was cleared to the edge of the box, to Slater, whose shot was blocked and deflected back out to the penalty spot. It was pinball in the box, and I could not see what was happening. The net bulging was enough to send the away section behind the goal into complete pandemonium. We had done it. That one moment in the game made the whole day worth it.
In the end, it was a game of two halves. Some would argue Swansea deserved the victory, but I thought the result was fair. Despite the home side having 65% of the overall possession, we had six more shots than them, restricting them to only two shots on target—their two goals. In the second half, we seemed like we wanted it more than them; therefore, we were able to steal a late equaliser, which felt like a winner to the fans.
It was not quite a win, but it was a vital point. We have Southampton at home next. We are going to have to pull off something magical again.
