Shaky final ten minutes threatens to batter confidence

Hull City can count themselves unlucky to have collected just one point from the last two games. The Tigers turned in strong showings against Preston North End and Bristol City, but ultimately they’ve thrown away three crucial points in the final minutes of the game.

However, what would be easy to think is that they have turned in two poor performances, as the result would suggest, but they haven’t.

They did well against Preston and I thought they were better at Bristol on Wednesday night. Overall it was a good performance by everyone, no one particularly stood out but no one had a poor game and it’s fair to say everyone enjoyed a six or seven out of ten performance.

To leave Ashton Gate empty handed will have been hard on Nigel Adkins, who is going through a rough patch of seven games without a win and while there have been poor performances in that run, they haven’t always been deserving of the result collected.

Against the Robins, City looked up for it, they played with confidence and for a long time looked as though they could win it. Jarrod Bowen had a couple of chances, as did Kamil Grosicki, but neither had the composure to open the scoring.

It was a good game to watch and to say City played like a side cut adrift in the relegation zone would be a lie.

Despite their wretched run of form, the Tigers knock the ball about well, they don’t panic and they look solid at the back. In fact, had they been more clinical they could have walked away with a convincing win and therein lies the problem.

The Tigers haven’t scored from open play in six games, with two penalties providing the club’s only cause of joy as time after time, the forward line lets them down.

Goals win games and if City could finish they wouldn’t be in the precarious predicament they are in.

It was only in the last ten minutes that

City looked a little shaky and they would have been aware that Bristol City have made a habit of scoring late in games, it got a little edgy and of course Famara Diedhiou did the rest with his head to snatch the points.

City are doing the right things and it’s important that they don’t let the run of results knock their confidence because as soon as they start doubting themselves it will be a long way back.

Fortune deserts you when you’re at the bottom, but the Tigers have shown they have enough to get out of danger, in my opinion.

WINLESS SPELL MUST COME TO AN END SOON

Hull City travel to Bolton Wanderers tomorrow looking to bring an end to their seven-game winless spell.

The Tigers were unfortunate to come undone in the dying moments against Bristol City, ensuring they fell four points shy of safety and while the result will hurt they will be encouraged by the performance.

City asked a lot of questions of Lee Johnson’s outfit to which they didn’t always have the answer, but clung on and eventually got the job done.

That is what quality teams do and City will certainly play worse teams this season, starting with Bolton. The Whites have picked up just six points from their last ten games, one more than Nigel Adkins’ side and were thumped by Nottingham Forest in midweek.

As such, the Tigers will travel knowing they have an opportunity to turn things around.

Should the coveted win come at the University of Bolton Stadium tomorrow afternoon, it could galvanise the Tigers.

They won’t climb out of the relegation zone with three points, but it may well be enough to give them the shot in the arm they need.

However, in order to do that, they must learn their lessons. The last time they travelled to a relegation rival was last month at Reading and after giving them an early leg-up they made the Royals look like world beaters.

Heads dropped and Reading made a mockery of Adkins’ side in the end with a

3-0 thumping at the Madejski Stadium and that must have come as a thunderous reality check.

Since then the defence has tightened up, City have conceded five in five games and in the 3-4-3 formation they have become hard to beat.

There ought to be no underestimating Bolton, they will be the favourites and they are the ones sitting pretty outside the relegation zone, but City cannot afford to pass up the opportunity.

CAMPBELL IS CHANGE I’D MAKE UP FRONT

Chris Martin has started Hull City’s last five games up front under Nigel Adkins, more often than not as part of a front three.

The striker has been flanked by Jarrod Bowen and Kamil Grosicki, who created a number of clear-cut scoring chances between them on Wednesday night, but still Martin’s wait for a goal continues.

Martin went close with an inventive overhead kick, but that was his most memorable moment of the game and after being given his chance in the 3-4-3 system, I think it’s time to make a change.

I have no problem with the formation utilised, it’s hard to be positive about a system which the club have failed to win whilst playing, but it looks promising. The head coach has found a way to squeeze Bowen and Grosicki into a side with a three-man defence and it appears to have tightened the side up, but I think the problem lies in between the two wingers.

After five successive starts without a goal, Martin has hardly nailed down his spot in the side and now is the right time to make a change.

It’s not admitting defeat because Martin still has a role to play in black and amber, but the current system suits Fraizer Campbell’s strengths more than his in my opinion.

The striker can perhaps feel hard done by not be in the side at present following a series of impressive performances at the start of the season and has had to be patient.

However, in a counter attacking system such as the 3-4-3, you need a mobile striker, one who is agile and sees the game quickly and Campbell ticks all those boxes.

With Bowen and Grosicki working the channels, Campbell ought to be allowed the freedom to remain up the field and get himself in areas to score, rather than dropping back to get a feel of the ball. The striker has the ability to latch onto through balls in space and with two goals to his name this season he has proven to be a bigger goal threat.

The club’s impotency in front of goal dictates a change is needed and I feel Campbell could be the missing piece to the City puzzle at present.