Huddersfield Town vs Hull City. Sky Bet Championship.
The John Smith's StadiumAttendance18,628.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Huddersfield and Hull City at the John Smith's Stadium as an own goal from Lewie Coyle and Michal Helik sealed victory for the Terriers.
Monday 10 October 2022 12:19, UK
Mark Fotheringham enjoyed victory in his first home game in charge of Huddersfield as they recorded a 2-0 Championship win over managerless Hull.
Town's fans were treated to a second-straight home win as the Yorkshire club cut the gap between themselves and safety to just two points.
And they will be hopeful Fotheringham's appointment at the club, who lost in last year's play-off final, can bring about a change in fortunes after a sorry start to the season.
The Terriers overcame a shaky start to pick up a precious three points in a game between two of the Championship's bottom five.
Hull, who boast the leakiest defence in the division, were twice undone by crosses as the Tigers slumped to a painful sixth defeat in seven.
Lewie Coyle's unfortunate own goal and Michal Helik's first goal for the club ensured Fotheringham's first outing at the John Smith's Stadium ended with a welcome win.
The new boss made two changes after his side's draw in a six-goal thriller at Luton, while Hull interim boss Andy Dawson made a solitary swap.
After getting their act together, the hosts had the first real sight of goal as Tom Lees fired straight at Nathan Baxter when he should have done better.
Down the other end, Ryan Longman struck wide of the mark after cutting inside onto his favoured left foot.
Lees glanced a Sobra Thomas whipped corner wide with the goal at his mercy.
But the pressure told in the 29th minute when Coyle's flying header painfully turned Etienne Camara's cross into his own net.
Dimitrous Pelkas did well to pick possession up in midfield and set up Hull top-scorer Oscar Estupinan but his wayward strike flew miles off target.
The Tigers should have been level on the stroke of half-time as Longman rolled his shot wide after being played in one-on-one.
Huddersfield doubled their lead six minutes after the restart as former Barnsley defender Helik headed home Danny Ward's pass from point-blank range.
The visitors breathed a huge sigh of relief just after the hour. Jordan Rhodes' strike came back off the post before Alfie Jones cleared Helik's effort off the line.
Estupinan fluffed his lines once again as he spooned an effort from 10 yards out over after Longman's shot was blocked into his path.
Lee Nicholls produced a good save to tip Greg Docherty's rasping effort over the crossbar with time running out for City.
And Huddersfield held on with relative ease for a welcome second clean sheet of the season after shipping six goals in their last two.
Huddersfield's Mark Fotheringham: "It's important to get a win. The most pleasing thing was the commitment and the desire we showed out there. I wasn't satisfied with our first-half performance and I know we will play much better than that in the future. We know as a group we can play much better than that. When we do click into gear, I think you are going to see a really entertaining, attacking team. I gave a couple of players a volley at half-time and they were much better in the second half.
"That's my job. I'm not here to be the guys' friend. I'm here to win games, we need to win games and we're going to win games. It's nothing to do with me what happened in the past. I'm only looking at what's happening now. I can only influence what's happening on the training pitch. I've had eight sessions with them and you're really starting to see my identity of what I'm looking for for this team. I'm not wanting to be sitting at this end of the table, I want to be winning games week in and week out. I demand standards from them and they know that."
Hull's caretaker manager Andy Dawson: "I thought we lacked intensity. We didn't work the keeper enough. We had four shots over the bar, test him. They're the little things we need to do better.
"Whenever we seem to be tested, things go against us, but that's football."
