By OkayGoal
Gary O’Neil left the MKM Stadium convinced Ipswich Town should have gone home with all three points, but Hull City 2-2 Ipswich Town is a harder result to argue with once you look past the possession.
Town had 61.5% of the ball and 15 shots to their hosts’ nine on Saturday afternoon. They also finished with exactly the same number of shots on target: three. Julio Enciso’s 20-yard strike on 74 minutes rescued the point after Tim Iroegbunam and Oli McBurnie had turned the game on its head inside 10 minutes.
The two sides promoted from the Championship last season now sit level on 11 points after nine games, with Hull City 10th and Ipswich 13th before Sunday’s fixtures. Hull remain unbeaten at home, but four of their five league games there have now ended all square.
Did Ipswich really deserve three points at Hull?
On the eye test, for long spells, yes. O’Neil stuck with the side that drew 1-1 with Nottingham Forest last time out, and they controlled the first half. Abdoul Ouattara beat his man and slipped in Florentino Luís, who smashed the opener into the roof of the net in the 22nd minute.
It could have been more. Enciso had a header ruled out after Abdul Fatawu was penalised for a foul on McBurnie, Fatawu then headed a good chance over the bar, and Dara O’Shea felt he had been pulled back twice at corners, with both penalty appeals turned away.
O’Neil certainly had no doubts afterwards. He said: “I’m really proud of what the players produced today, and they gave everything. It was another really good display, I think. I take a lot of promise from the game, because it’s not easy to go away from home and be that good against the opposition.”
He went further on the chances. “The nature of the goals we conceded leaves me a little bit frustrated, but the team’s performance and how dominant we were in both halves really pleased me. I’ve watched a lot of Hull’s games, and we probably created the most of anybody, really. So lots of positives. I wish it was three, but a point on the road is a point on the road in the Premier League. They’re hard to get – very hard to get.”
The numbers back up the control more than the threat:
| Hull City 2-2 Ipswich Town | Hull City | Ipswich Town |
|---|---|---|
| Possession | 38.5% | 61.5% |
| Shots | 9 | 15 |
| Shots on target | 3 | 3 |
| Corners | 6 | 3 |
| Fouls | 13 | 12 |
Two of each side’s three efforts on target went in, so neither goalkeeper was asked to make many saves. That is the hole in the “we deserved it” argument: 15 shots sounds like a siege, but only three of them troubled Konstantinos Tzolakis.
The half-time change that swung the game
Sergej Jakirović did not dress up the first 45 minutes. Hull’s head coach said: “My first words in the changing room at half time were that we can’t play so bad again in the second half. We changed our system, which I think was crucial, and we showed the right fight and spirit.”
Matt Crooks came on for John Egan at the break, and Hull went to a back four. Jakirović explained why: “We sat too deep in the first half and there was too much space in the pockets for Ipswich to play. After going behind we tried to put John Egan in to help the midfield because we could see that Oli was playing up against three players all of the time. They locked out our wing-backs and they overloaded us.” He was also careful to add that the switch was “no reflection on John Egan’s performance, it was just a tactical substitution.”
It worked with Hull’s first real chance of the afternoon. On 58 minutes, Lewie Coyle’s low pass was turned round the corner by McBurnie inside his own half, and Iroegbunam was off. Nobody came to close him down from there, and he had time to pick his spot for his first goal for the club. Jakirović said it was something they work on in training.
Ten minutes later Hull were ahead. Mohamed Belloumi was fouled right on the edge of the Ipswich box, stepped over the free kick, and McBurnie drove it low into the bottom corner for his second goal in as many games. “A penalty last week, a free kick this week. Hopefully next it is a goal from open play for him,” his manager said.
Could Hull have stopped Enciso’s equaliser?
Jakirović thinks so, even if the finish left his goalkeeper with no chance. O’Neil had made a triple change on 70 minutes, sending on Matusiwa, Maeda and Clarke, and four minutes later Enciso made space for himself on the edge of the box and fired into the top corner. That is two goals in two games for the Paraguayan.
The Hull boss said: “We turned the game around to lead 2-1, but I feel that maybe we could have controlled the last 20 minutes a bit better. When you are behind, you take many more risks to try and come back, but when ahead we needed to be a bit more organised. They scored a great equaliser but he had three players around him and we could have at least maybe committed the foul to stop the shot.”
Both sides went looking for a winner. Christian Walton turned Brooke Norton-Cuffy’s low effort wide, and some desperate Ipswich defending kept out Mohamed-Ali Cho. Jakirović, who called it two very different feelings, settled on the positive in the end: “If you cannot win the game then don’t lose it so in that respect I can be happy.”
What comes next for O’Neil’s side?
Sasa Lukic, a doubt with a groin problem going into the weekend, missed out again as he continues his recovery, so O’Neil will hope to have him back for a far tougher test. Ipswich host Bournemouth at Portman Road on Sunday, 8 November, and Marco Rose’s side have just won six in a row without conceding, by a combined 16-0.
O’Neil already has that one circled. “It keeps us moving and we get ourselves ready for a big game back at Portman Road against Bournemouth next weekend,” he said.
Town have now scored 14 and conceded 18 in nine league games, which is the real story of their season so far. They can play, but they give you chances.
Verdict: Hull City 2-2 Ipswich Town was a fair result, and a good sign for both
O’Neil is right to be pleased with the performance and right to be annoyed about the goals, but a share of the points looks about right to us. Ipswich were better for 45 minutes, Hull were better for most of the next 30, and the shots on target finished level.
The bigger takeaway is that neither of these promoted sides looks out of place. Going toe to toe with a Hull side still unbeaten at home is no small thing, and Ipswich will need that same control, with far sharper finishing, when Bournemouth come to town.