Grant grief for Greaves
Eaves 9
1
GRANT McCANN refused to point the finger at Jacob Greaves as the defender’s nightmare miss allowed the chasing pack to close in on Hull.
The 20-year-old centreback is still waiting for his first career goal after heading against the underside of the bar from two yards as Gillingham battled back to earn a draw.
It means the Tigers’ lead at the top has been cut to a point by free-scoring Peterborough, and Sunderland in third also won to move three points behind with two games in hand.
City are unbeaten in seven games, and boss McCann said: “It’s disappointing given that we made so many chances. It’s a bit of a miss from Jacob because from where I was it looked like it was in.
“As a team we didn’t take our chances but we’re still in a good place heading into the final games.”
Hull were left to rue missed chances as substitute Olly Lee stabbed home a second-half leveller for the play-off-chasing
Gills after Tom Eaves ended a 12-game goal drought to put City ahead.
The Scouse targetman rose at the far post to head a Mallik Wilks cross into the opposite top corner after nine minutes.
Eaves almost doubled the lead when his shot grazed Jack Bonham’s right-hand post after great work by George Honeyman, who stood out with his skill and lung-busting work-rate.
Hull wasted a host of chances, with Greg Docherty shooting over after engineering space in the box at a short corner.
The worst miss came from Greaves, who somehow failed to score after meeting a Keane Lewis-Potter flick from Honeyman’s corner early in the second half.
Lewis-Potter wasted two late close-range chances, and Connor Ogilvie almost sliced Wilks’s cross into his own net.
Lee fired Gills level just minutes after entering the fray – powering home in the six-yard box after Jack Tucker headed down Thomas O’Connor’s 67th-minute corner.
The Gills almost stole it in stoppage time as substitute Dominic Samuel hit the post after a long throw.
Steve Evans’s men remain two points off the top six and the Scot said: “We’re frustrated because we’ve come here and given Hull a really good game.
“We’ve got eight matches left and we’ll fight tooth and nail.”
HULL: Ingram 7; Coyle 8, A Jones 6 (McLoughlin 90, 6), Greaves 6, Elder 7; Slater 6, Docherty 6; Wilks 6, Honeyman 9, Lewis-Potter 7; Eaves 8 (Scott 79, 6).
Unused subs: Long, Emmanuel, Crowley, C Jones, Salam.
GILLINGHAM: Bonham 7; Jackson 7, Tucker 8, Ogilvie 7, O’Connor 8; Graham 5 (Samuel 85, 5), Dempsey 7, O’Keefe 6, MacDonald 6 (McKenzie 82); Oliver 6, Akinde 5 (Lee 61, 8).
Unused subs: Bastien, Willock, Johnson, Woods.
George Honeyman. The midfielder was at the heart of all the