West Brom 3-0 Hull City: FLW report as Albion stun Tigers with deserved success | OneFootball

FLW report from The Hawthorns for this Championship fixture

Hull City's recent inconsistent form of late continued as they were the victims of West Bromwich Albion's first league win of 2026.

After drawing successive matches, James Morrison recorded his first win in interim charge with goals from Josh Maja and Aune Heggebo sending them on their way, both ending Championship +goal droughts which stretched back to October and December respectively.

Isaac Price then put the seal on things in the dying minutes with a neat finish from inside the 18-yard box.

It was an extremely below-par performance from Sergej Jakirovic's Tigers, who had their misery compounded on 36 minutes when Charlie Hughes was shown a straight red card for bringing down Jed Wallace just outside the penalty area.

West Bromwich Albion 3-0 Hull City

It was Albion who made the brighter start, with Heggebo inches away from connecting with Danny Imray's fizzing cross inside two minutes. The full-back was then the first to sting Ivor Pandur's palms four minutes later.

Maja then directed a header just over the Croatian's crossbar, with the Tigers struggling to gain a foothold in the first 10 minutes.

Their first opening came moments later as Oli McBurnie was smartly denied by Max O'Leary after a mistimed header from Nat Phillips. Albion very nearly pounced from the resulting counter-attack, though, as Price neatly let Wallace's low cross find Heggebo, with Pandur able to gather what was a tame effort in the end.

Another mishap from the Albion defence allowed McBurnie to fire towards goal, with George Campbell able to deny the Scot this time before Liam Millar dragged his shot wide after drifting inside.

The Baggies would then take a deserved lead on 24 minutes as Wallace was allowed to race down the right flank and pick out Maja, who turned home his second of the season.

Albion's main threat continued to come from the right side, with Price unable to turn home another Wallace delivery after the experienced winger, once again, had the beating of Millar.

City's disastrous first half went from bad to worse when Hughes was dismissed by Josh Smith nine minutes before the break after Wallace fell under his challenge. Pandur was then on hand to deny Price from doubling the hosts' lead from the subsequent free-kick.

The first efforts of the second came for West Brom through Wallace and Imray, with the first of those deflected into the defender's path by John Egan before he fired over from a narrow angle.

Ousmane Diakite lined up a curling effort after 56 minutes which was deflected behind as Morrison's side went in search of some breathing space. Pandur would then thwart Price for a second time on the hour-mark after the playmaker burst into the box.

Albion would then be forced into a change of goalkeeper midway through the half as O'Leary collided with Egan under pressure after a looping header from McBurnie.

That had no negative effect though as their lead was doubled less than a minute later as Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba's cross with his first touch was flicked home by Heggebo.

City were fortunate not to have conceded a penalty afterwards as ex-Albion defender, Semi Ajayi, appeared to have brought Maja to the ground after Callum Styles initially fell under pressure.

The Hungarian international was inches away from adding a spectacular third with nine minutes to go, as his arrowing strike rattled the crossbar with Pandur beaten.

It got even better for the home crowd when Price swept Imray's cross under Pandur first time in the third minute of second half stoppage-time.

A first win since December 29th also saw them climb out of the relegation zone, whilst Hull remain on 63 points in fifth, enduring an 18th year without victory in these parts.

Player Ratings

West Bromwich Albion

Max O'Leary - 6.5 (Griffiths 66" - 6)

Danny Imray - 8.5

George Campbell - 7

Nat Phillips - 7.5

Callum Styles - 7.5

Jed Wallace - 8.5 (Jimoh-Aloba 67" - 7)

Jayson Molumby - 7.5

Ousmane Diakite - 7 (Mowatt 84" - 6)

Isaac Price - 7.5

Josh Maja - 8.5

Aune Heggebo - 7.5 (Dike 84" - 6)

Unused Subs: A.Gilchrist, C.Taylor, H.Whitwell, O.Bostock, H.Mustapha

Hull City

Ivor Pandur - 6

Semi Ajayi - 5

John Egan - 5.5

Charlie Hughes - 5

Lewie Coyle - 6 (Hadziahmetovic 45+2" - 6)

Matt Crooks - 6 (Joseph 75" - 6)

Regan Slater - 6.5

Liam Millar - 4.5 (Drameh 39" - 6)

Joe Gelhardt - 6 (Belloumi 75" - 6)

Lewis Koumas - 6 (Lundstram 75" - 6)

Oli McBurnie - 6

Unused Subs: D.Phillips, P.McNair, T.Collyer, K.Dowell

James Morrison reacts as West Brom defeat Hull City

Reacting to a dominant Baggies performance, Morrison said: "I'm happy, obviously. I'm going to enjoy this feeling of winning.

I think it's been a long time coming. But it just shows the work that has been put in.

"The lads have taken on board what we've been saying and executing to a level that was required.

"I thought it was a top performance from start to finish. I was a bit apprehensive going into the game with a third game in the week, whether we could turn it out. Southampton, you know, put us under a lot of pressure physically and emotionally with the goal at the end.

"I had to take my time on picking the team. I named it this morning, so I slept on a few things and spoke to a few people and, you know, it turned out to be the right decision," he claimed.

"I said to them in the week, we can control the, you know, probably 98 percent, but it's how we deal with the 2% of that disappointment and how we react to it.

"We're fighting for every ball, running back, tackles, winning, um, winning first contacts, what we knew we had to do with McBurnie and being good on the seconds, because they're really strong and have been really strong this season.

"We had some really good link-ups on the sides, balls in the box, people having chances, um, another time it could have been 5-0, really," the Albion interim boss stated,

Sergej Jakirovic's thoughts as Hull City well-beaten vs West Brom

Reacting to an extremely below-par Tigers performance, Jakirovic said: "My opinion is that West Brom entered very, very good in the game.

"Very aggressive on the ball, especially. For second balls, they went there, and they pressed us good.

"We didn't find the exit of their press, and also, maybe they had some chances there, but also, we had some chances there, with McBurnie. We could punish them, but we didn't," he added.

"The first goal, it's so 'funny' when you watch it again, it's a very 'funny' goal. We are a professional team, so we can defend it. We can stop that," stated Jakirovic.

'Funny, funny, funny' even for me. Kick, long, better, also our defence and midfield players (didn't do enough), because (a West Brom) midfield player scored the goal after the kick.

"And also, I think after the red card, it was very difficult for everything. We had a lot of problems on our left side.

"We sat back too much, that was not a plan.

"But also, I can say (about West Brom) this position, this, this is not a picture. I know that, because I watch the games, and from the beginning of the season, they don't get lucky. They perform good, but without result.

"We will try to use this week for a good recovery, and prepare everything to win next Saturday (vs Sheffield Wednesday) at home.

Asked for his thoughts on Hughes' red card, he added: "I spoke with the referee, he explained to me, I can say 'a hundred percent chance for the goal'.

"He can shoot, he can play a big pass.

"But I must respect the referee's decision, so we will see after the appeal."

Attendance