Hull City 1-1 Portsmouth FC: FLW report as Pompey come back to earn deserved point | OneFootball

FLW reports live from the MKM Stadium this afternoon

Hull City's recent winless run stretched to five games at the hands of the Championship's bottom side Portsmouth at the MKM Stadium.

Despite seeing much more of the ball and creating the more clear-cut chances in the first half, the East Yorkshire outfit saw their inability to kill games off punished once again, as Josh Murphy equalised straight after the restart to earn the Blues a well-earned point.

Tim Walter looked towards Joao Pedro as the man to aid a winning formula in HU3, as the veteran replaced Chris Bedia in a solitary change from the 1-1 draw with Derby County on October 26th.

Meanwhile, after a 2-1 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday at Fratton Park, John Mousinho introduced Nicolas Schmid, Matt Ritchie and Kusini Yengi to his starting XI in place of Jordan Archer, Christian Saydee and Mark O'Mahoney.

The first half-chance of the game fell to Murphy, who saw his deflected effort easily gathered by Ivor Pandur after a loose pass from Cody Drameh.

Abu Kamara - featuring against his former loan side - then started the hosts' first real move of intent, linking up neatly with Gustavo Puerta who picked out Regan Slater inside the 18-yard-box, but the midfielder's flick-on was deflected wide.

And, after an uneventful 10-minute spell, Hull would take the lead with Pedro scoring his first Championship goal in the process.

Charlie Hughes sprayed out a sublime ball into the path of Mohamed Belloumi on the right-hand flank, and after beating Connor Ogilvie with ease, Pedro was on hand to convert past Schmid from close range.

Belloumi continued to cause the Blues left-back issues, and after driving past Ogilvie once more, Xavier Simons was unfortunate to see his driven effort spurn wide of the post.

Hughes, who has been an inspired addition to the City side, saw his blushes spared by Pandur, who diverted Pompey top scorer Callum Lang's first opportunity of the game wide of the post on 27 minutes after the centre-back's lapse in concentration.

Puerta was then handed the freedom of Hull's left side, but his finessed effort was well parried by the onrushing Schmid.

The flanks continued to be the Tigers' best route towards a second goal, with Kamara once again seeing a fizzing ball evade all in Black and Amber, before being turned behind by Terry Devlin as the last moment of real action in the first 45.

However, Portsmouth would come out in the second half with the bit between their teeth, and it took them no less than 20 seconds to draw level.

Hull failed to deal with a Lang cross down their defensive left side, with the ball eventually falling into Murphy's path, and his effort nestled into the corner via a Lewie Coyle deflection which completely wrong-footed Pandur in net.

Amid severe frustration from the home sections of a 21,904 crowd, Walter opted to change his midfield trio altogether, with Kasey Palmer, Abdus Omur and Oscar Zambrano replacing Slater, Puerta and Simons.

The visitors then saw loud cries for a penalty waved away as Kusini Yengi believed he was brought down by Hughes.

Belloumi then believed he was brought down by Ogilvie on 83 minutes. But, once again, referee Anthony Backhouse was left unmoved.

A lack of end product from the hosts was an ongoing theme across the 90 minutes, with Will Jarvis delivering a teasing ball from the left which flew past substitute Chris Bedia and Belloumi, with tension continuing to mount among City supporters.

This was summed up just moments later as a Palmer free-kick failed to connect with an abundance of men in Black and Amber, leaving Schmid untroubled.

Murphy then had a golden chance to score his second of the game in the first minute of second half injury time, as his shot was hit straight at Pandur, before Lang's acrobatic effort slammed off the crossbar, much to the relief of the City backline.

Alfie Jones then saw a curling effort deflected wide, before Zambrano completely misjudged a free header from close range with two minutes left on the clock.

At full-time, the home supporters made their feelings more than clear with boos ringing around the MKM as Hull's winless run stretched to five games, whilst Pompey now sit on nine points after their first 13 outings.

Player Ratings

Hull City

Ivor Pandur - 6

Lewie Coyle - 6

Alfie Jones - 6

Charlie Hughes - 6.5

Cody Drameh - 6

Gustavo Puerta - 6.5 (Palmer 62" - 6)

Xavier Simons - 6.5 (Zambrano 62" - 6)

Regan Slater - 6.5 (Omur 62" - 6)

Mohamed Belloumi - 6.5

Abu Kamara - 6.5 (Jarvis 81" - 6)

Joao Pedro - 7 (Bedia 83" - 6)

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Portsmouth

Nicolas Schmid - 6.5

Terry Devlin - 6 (Williams 66" - 6)

Regan Poole - 6

Tom McIntyre - 6.5

Connor Ogilvie - 6

Andre Dozzell - 6 (Moxon 80" - 6)

Freddie Potts - 6.5

Matt Ritchie - 6.5 (Silvera 74" - 6)

Callum Lang - 7.5

Josh Murphy - 8

Kusini Yengi - 7 (O'Mahoney 66" - 6)

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Tim Walter reacts as Hull City's winless run continues

The German's side had shown occasional signs of improvement against Burnley and Derby County, but a similar theme has panned out in the last trio of encounters, which was a key talking point in his post-match interview.

"I think everybody is frustrated, and I understand. We had a really good first half, but the problem was that we didn't score the second," Walter began.

"That's our biggest problem (at the moment). That we can't score more than one goal. We've had the lead three times (in the last three games) and we always have the chance to close the door, and unfortunately we didn't do it.

"We need to stick together, we want to do better as well. All we want to create is a good mood and a sticking family that will work together. We want to stick with our fans, and we need them so much," he added.

"Like I said, we are young (a young team) together. If you have those moments that didn't stick to the plan, you come out of your flow and it will happen. We can learn out of this situation."

John Mousinho reacts as Portsmouth FC earn a point

On the flipside, Mousinho was more-than encouraged by his side's performance after eventually growing into the game.

"I thought we were OK in the first half," he started. "I know there was a real contrast with what we produced in the second half.

"The key thing for us today, coming to a side like Hull, on a big pitch, was I wanted the players to do what we hadn't done against Cardiff and Stoke, which was to stay in the game," the Pompey boss continued.

"We were slightly passive (in the first half) and needed to press slightly higher. I thought we did that a couple of times in the first half, but nowhere near as much as we managed in the second half.

"We're really disappointed with the goal, but after that, there wasn't much for Nico (Schmid) to do. That was the big message at half-time - 'don't panic, we're in the game, we'll get a goal.

"The lads got the goal quicker than anyone imagined. But, I think it was one-way traffic after that I thought it was our best 45 minutes so far this season," Mousinho concluded.

Hull v Portsmouth attendance

The attendance at the MKM Stadium this afternoon was 21,904.

This included 2,106 fans who made the arduous journey from the South Coast.