Hull City 3-1 Southampton: FLW report as Tigers dominant vs lacklustre Saints | OneFootball

FLW report from the MKM Stadium for this Championship fixture.

Hull City recorded their second win of the Championship season with a deserved 3-1 success over Southampton at the MKM Stadium.

After salvaging a late point against Swansea City last time out, Sergej Jakirovic's side backed it up with goals from Kyle Joseph, John Lundstram and Oli McBurnie.

Joseph couldn't really miss his opener midway through the first period, in what was his first home goal since joining from Blackpool in January, whilst McBurnie turned provider for his ex-Sheffield United teammate on the hour mark before scoring his third league goal of the season with a powerful unmarked header with 19 minutes to go.

Despite being newly-relegated, the South Coast side's slow start to the campaign continued after last Sunday's goalless derby with Portsmouth, although those who made the arduous journey to East Yorkshire did see Adam Armstrong net a 94th-minute consolation.

Hull City 3-1 Southampton

It was the Tigers who posed the greater threat inside the opening moments, with Saints captain Jack Stephens using his experience to avert a low Ryan Giles cross before McBurnie could prod the ball home.

Ryan Manning was presented with the visitors' first opening after 10 minutes, with the aforementioned McBurnie bravely getting in the way of a powerful free-kick from the left-back after Tom Fellows was initially halted.

The returning Mohamed Belloumi was then afforded acres of space to forge City's next goalscoring chance, but after neatly turning Manning, the Algerian's decision to play in a teammate rather than go for goal individually saw the opportunity dissipate.

Hull would eventually take the lead midway through the first period, with Joseph netting his first goal at the MKM Stadium. A neat move from the hosts saw Lewie Coyle play an early cross towards Joe Gelhardt whose initial effort was saved by Gavin Bazunu, with Joseph quickest to react to the rebound.

Southampton were presented a fine opportunity to equalise just six minutes later as Finn Azaz fed Damion Downs through a gap in the Hull defence, with the American dragging a low effort wide of Ivor Pandur's left-hand post. Tom Fellows then fired a half-volley wide of the mark following neat work from Ryan Fraser.

An end-to-end first half then continued to go the way of the hosts, with Belloumi seeing a curling strike smartly blocked by Manning before Gelhardt tried his luck with a speculative effort.

The last chance of the first half saw the energetic Fraser sting the palms of Pandur, with Hull's rearguard able to withstand the late flurry of pressure before a chorus of boos from the travelling supporters.

Looking to atone for a below-par showing, Still's side started the second half in much stronger fashion, with Hull riding their luck on two occasions inside the first six minutes. A fizzing cross from Manning was met by the onrushing Fellows, who failed to pick out Downs inside the box, before a Stephens strike only narrowly flew wide of Pandur's net with multiple deflections en route.

Saints were left to rue those missed chances as Hull countered to great effect on the hour mark to double their advantage. Another pinpoint cross from Coyle saw McBurnie tower over Taylor Harwood-Bellis, leaving an unmarked Lundstram with the simple task of coolly slotting past Bazunu.

In a bid to mount a late comeback, Still introduced all of Leo Scienza, Adam Armstrong and Cameron Archer, although Saints' lacklustre performance was summed up as Manning sent a 20-yard free-kick way over the bar on 69 minutes.

That couldn't have been more of a contrast to Jakirovic's side, who made it 3-0 just moments later as McBurnie powered home Giles' free-kick from inside the six-yard box, netting his fourth goal for the club in the process.

The hosts continued to search for more as the clock entered the final 15 minutes, with Giles and Darko Gyabi going close with efforts heading for Bazunu's left-hand corner before Lundstram blazed over from inside the box.

It could have been four for the Tigers with seven minutes remaining, with Bazunu smartly denying McBurnie his second of the afternoon after he looked to turn another Giles cross home from five yards out.

Armstrong did fire home a fine consolation for Southampton with 90 seconds remaining as he was afforded the time to beat Pandur from distance.

At the end of a dominant performance, Hull have now moved up to 11th in the table ahead of a trip to Watford, whilst a continuing winless run has seen Southampton drop to 19th ahead of their EFL Cup tie with Liverpool on Tuesday night.

FT: Hull City 3-0 Southampton

Player Ratings

Hull City

Ivor Pandur - 7

Lewie Coyle - 7

John Egan - 7

Charlie Hughes - 7.5

Ryan Giles - 7.5

John Lundstram - 7.5 (Destan 82" - 6)

Amir Hadziametovic - 7 (Slater 62" - 6)

Mohamed Belloumi - 6.5 (Gyabi 45" - 6)

Joe Gelhardt - 7.5 (Akintola 61" - 6)

Kyle Joseph - 7.5 (Palmer 82" - 6)

Oli McBurnie - 8

Unused Subs: Dillon Phillips, Cody Drameh, Akin Famewo, Joel Ndala

Southampton

Gavin Bazunu - 5.5

Mads Roerslev - 6 (Scienza 63" - 6)

Taylor Harwood-Bellis - 6

Jack Stephens - 6

Ryan Manning - 6.5 (Jelert 83" - 6)

Caspar Jander - 5.5

Shea Charles - 6.5

Tom Fellows - 6.5 (Armstrong 63" - 6.5)

Finn Azaz - 6.5 (Stewart 75" - 6)

Ryan Fraser - 6.5

Damion Downs - 6 (Archer 62" - 6)

Unused Subs: Alex McCarthy, Nathan Wood, Flynn Downes, Jay Robinson

Hull City vs Southampton Attendance

The attendance at the MKM Stadium this afternoon was 22,085.

Sergej Jakirovic reacts as Hull City defeat Southampton

Addressing the media post-match, Jakirovic was extremely pleased with the Tigers' all-round performance despite Southampton's dominance in possession.

"I'm really happy because they (the players) showed great energy, intensity, challenges, duels etc.," he began.

"We knew Southampton would have the ball, they are very good in this part of the play, and the idea was to defend in a compact low block.

"We had problems at 1-0 with balls through our midfield, we didn't cut those passing lines. At half-time, we agreed we needed to be more compact and narrow, not dropping as much, as we dropped too much in the first seven/eight minutes (of the second half) and when we had the ball we didn't have the attacking solutions, you don't have anything.

"We changed that with two '6's'," Jakirovic added, "Then after the second goal, we tried to play more with the ball and with confidence.

"I expected this (type) of game," he claimed. "The most important plan was, when we are out wide and in calm possession, we try to make crosses and put pressure on them with Kyle (Joseph) and Oli (McBurnie).

"Two goals that we scored were exactly like that."

Will Still reacts as Southampton's winless run continues

Speaking to the press post-match, a frustrated Still began: "It's incredibly disappointing.

"For large parts of the game, we were totally in control and doing the right things and approach work, but football games aren't won in-between both boxes, they're won in both boxes, and we haven't done well in either of those," he added.

"The first goal's a really poor one to concede. It's a cross from deep, we've not made the first contact, not followed up ready to defend the ball and gifted a goal.

"The second one, you've come back out pressing and in total control, and you're the biggest threat. But, you're not finishing your actions, getting first contacts in the box, the final bit isn't quite right, and you gift them a second goal by losing it on the halfway line and not defending the transition properly.

"Then, to top it off, you concede from a set-piece which is just ridiculous," Still claimed. "But that must be my responsibility to get that right, and we aren't at the moment.

"I'll take it (the blame) on me and look to move forward as soon as we possibly can. We've got a game on Tuesday, a game on Saturday against the leaders (Middlesbrough) and we need to get it right, because it wasn't good enough.