Hull City vs Bristol City. Sky Bet Championship.
MKM StadiumAttendance14,762.
Saturday 25 November 2017 18:50, UK
Josh Brownhill scored a last-minute winner as Bristol City fought back to claim a 3-2 victory at Hull which increases the pressure on Tigers boss Leonid Slutsky.
Fraizer Campbell and Jarrod Bowen seemingly put the hosts in control and on course for their first win in six Sky Bet Championship matches. The Robins hit back, though, with Aden Flint, Bobby Reid and Brownhill scoring in the final 22 minutes for the high-flying visitors.
Slutsky has won just four of his 19 league games since replacing Marco Silva in the summer and the result leaves Hull languishing just above the relegation zone.
Bristol City started the brighter, with Marlon Pack drilling a 20-yard shot just over in the ninth minute, but Hull gradually worked their way into the contest. On-loan Chelsea full-back Ola Aina cut in from the left and curled a shot wide in the 12th minute and Kevin Stewart blazed a speculative effort over on the half-hour mark for the Tigers.
Stewart came closer with a volley on the edge of the box moments later, but Hull were struggling to find a way through the visitors' defence.
When they did manage to find a killer pass, through Seb Larsson, Bowen stood on the ball when well placed. Bowen, however, was to provide the one moment of quality in the first half in delivering a teasing cross which Campbell bundled home from close range in the 33rd minute.
The hosts nearly doubled their lead five minutes before half-time, but Campbell and Jackson Irvine got in each other's way from Fikayo Tomori's cross. Irvine then connected with Larsson's free-kick just after the interval, but, despite being unmarked at the back post, the Australia midfielder headed just wide from 10 yards.
Hull began to turn the screw as Larsson tested the handling of Frank Fielding with a low free-kick in the 58th minute, but the Robins keeper could do little to prevent Bowen three minutes later. The impressive Hull midfielder latched on to Markus Henriksen's header and slammed home left-footed from close range.
The threat from the visitors was still evident when Allan McGregor had to smother Reid's shot in the 64h minute and seconds later they were back within a goal. Flint, so often a menace in the opposition box, converted into an empty net following a goalmouth scramble after McGregor failed to punch Niclas Eliasson's free-kick clear.
Bristol City drew level in similar circumstances in the 79th minute. This time it was Reid who benefitted from some slack Hull marking to poke home Jamie Paterson's free-kick from inside the six-yard box. Hull tried to hit back immediately, but Stewart saw a half-volley fly over the bar, and it proved costly when Brownhill rifled into the corner of the net from distance in the 89th minute.
Leonid Slutsky: "I don't know, now (is a) really painful time for me. I can't think about the future now, about my job. If you have a problem now, it's a very difficult problem about the future.
"We didn't win in the last six matches, (so) it's a normal situation to change coach in this situation. It's his (vice-chairman Ehab Allam's) decision. For now it is very difficult to speak, not about my job, (but) about today's match. You have an open, painful situation. Each movement for me is very difficult now."
Lee Johnson: "It was a bit like parenting. When you've got a baby and it doesn't sleep it's horrendous and then you get an amazing moment of joy once or twice a day - that's what it felt like. We were terrible for the first 55 minutes, it just wasn't us. We couldn't get hold of it up front. We defended OK in the first half because we had to. We gave the ball up far too easy and, to be honest, I'm in awe of my squad.
"We have got a special team, special character and special personalities to be able to come back from that kind of performance and score three goals in the last 25 minutes. You almost saw the confidence tank, when we scored the first goal, completely fill in the Bristol City players and completely drain for the Hull players and that was our moment."
