Jaden joy as Tigers slay Lions
BIG-SPENDING Hull paraded their magnificent seven January arrivals – but it was a more familiar face who kept their promotion bandwagon right on track.
Jaden Philogene’s early strike sealed back-to-back wins to push the ambitious Tigers into the top six.
Liam Rosenior named three of his new arrivals in the starting line-up with the other four on the bench, and the Hull boss said: “We’ve added plenty of quality in the window and some of the stuff we played was excellent.
“If we can be a little more ruthless we’re in with a chance of doing something special.”
Hull looked fresh after a two-week break and were straight out of the traps to take a fifth-minute lead through £5million summer arrival Philogene.
The forward, 21, returned from a two-month injury lay-off to tuck home the rebound after a stunning 25-yard effort from Burnley loan debutant Anass Zaroury came back off the bar.
Hull failed to build on their advantage and almost paid the price. Zian Flemming wasted Millwall’s best chance when the striker chipped onto the roof of the net with keeper Ryan Allsop stranded.
Tom Bradshaw shot tamely at Allsop in stoppage time to stretch the Lions’ winless run to five games and leave them in danger of being dragged into a relegation battle.
Boss Joe Edwards said: “It looked like it could be a long afternoon when Hull scored early but we dug in and could have nicked something.”
HULL: Allsop 7; Coyle 7, Jones 7, Greaves 7, Giles 7, Morton 7, Slater 7; Philogene 8, Carvalho 7 (Docherty (90) 5), Zaroury 7 (Ohio (74) 6); Tufan 7 (Jacob (88) 5) MILLWALL: Sarkic 6; Tanganga 5, Harding 5, Cooper 4; Norton-cuffy 5 (Mcnamara (66) 4), De Norre 5, Saville 5 (Honeyman (59) 6), Wallace 5 (Bryan (59) 6); Obafemi 5 (Bradshaw (46) 4), Watmore 5 (Esse (67) 4), Flemming 3 STAR MAN: Jaden Philogene – Returned from two-month injury lay-off with a bang. REF: Anthony Backhouse 7