Flat end to Hull City's play-off hopes as Tigers are well beaten at Plymouth Argyle

Hull City were beaten 1-0 at Plymouth Argyle on Saturday afternoon -Credit:Steven Paston/PA Wire
Hull City were beaten 1-0 at Plymouth Argyle on Saturday afternoon -Credit:Steven Paston/PA Wire


Hull City's Championship season came to a rather disappointing end on the South Coast ending in a 1-0 defeat to Plymouth Argyle who secured safety courtesy of talismanic skipper Joe Edwards' goal just before half-time.

A slow first half saw City deservedly behind at the break, though it took until five minutes before for the hosts to break the deadlock through skipper Edwards, rising above Matty Jacob to head in at the back post.

Boss Liam Rosenior, so positive before the game and rightly so given the manner of the display against Ipswich Town last Saturday, will have been disappointed with such a poor display from his side, who looked slow, flat and as if there was nothing at all riding on the game, and though West Brom eased into a 3-0 lead at home to Preston, City never got close to giving themselves a chance of finishing with a 12th away win of the campaign.

READ MORE: Plymouth Argule 1-0 Hull City final day highlights from Home Park

The Tigers will finish the season in seventh place, which is a marked improvement on the 15th-placed finish twelve months ago, but with the attacking quality at their disposal, there will be an undoubted feeling of frustration, and what might have been, the damage being done long before the final weekend when the miracle they needed was not on their side.

Rosenior made one change from the side who drew 3-3 in that thrilling game last weekend with Abdus Omur only fit enough for a place on the bench, so in came Liam Delap to spearhead the attack.

A frantic, frenetic start was to be expected played it was played out in a raucous atmosphere, and the hosts, caused an early issue for City with Bundu beating Jones for pace down the left before pulling it back for Mumba to try his luck at the near post but Greaves was there to block. City's first real moment of danger saw Philogene look to bend one towards the far corner, which was blocked and Morton fed Delap inside right, despite taking it past goalkeeper Michael Cooper, he ran out of space and behind it went.

The hosts were enjoying a good spell and almost broke the deadlock just before the 20th-minute was reached when Whittaker forced a terrific stop from Allsop amid a period of constant home pressure.

Delap registered City's first shot on target after 27 minutes when he latched onto Philogene's pass before bursting into the box and fizzing a low drive which Cooper had to get down quickly to hold.

Argyle were forced into a change 10 minutes from half-time when Bundu couldn't continue after a spell of treatment and was replaced by Callum Wright,

City fell behind behind just before the break when an aimless ball from the hosts was pumped into the middle of the Tigers' half and wasn't dealt with, Plymouth worked it well to the far side and in came the cross which saw Edwards rise above Jacob to head into the far corner, roof lifted off Home Park.

Tufan saw a penalty claim waved away after Whittaker had twice flopped to the floor to try and win one of his own, but that was a rare attack from City who were well below par in the first half, and could have few complaints about being a goal down.

Perhaps, unsurprisingly, Rosenior made a double change at the break, though the two who came off were maybe a surprise. Both Delap and Tufan were replaced by Noah Ohio and Abdus Omur. Straight into the action, Omur had a positive impact as he played into Philogene, and with nothing on, forced a smart save from the goalkeeper from distance.

Lewie Coyle and Ryan Giles replaced Slater and Jacob and then a final throw of the dice followed with just over 10 minutes to go saw Billy Sharp introduced for his final outing in a Tigers shirt, at the expense of Tyler Morton.

In truth, while the second half was an improvement, Rosenior's side lacked any creativity and didn't look like getting back into it, which, for the 1,706 away supporters, some of whom left Hull at 2am, was desperately disappointing.

And so it ends, a season which promised so much ends with a tepid defeat and now, a summer of change at the MKM Stadium with City braced for another high turnover of players ready to challenge next term, and hopefully, go one step further, but they must learn the harsh lessons of what it takes to sustain it ultimately get over the line.

Plymouth: Cooper, Mumba, Scarr, Edwards (c), Hardie, Whittaker, Bundu, Devine, Gibson, Randell, Phillips. Subs: Hazard (GK), Houghton, Pleguezuelo, Wright, Galloway, Waine, Forshaw, Sorinola, Issaka.

City: Allsop, Jacob, Greaves, Jones, Slater, Seri, Morton, Fabio, Jaden, Tufan, Delap. Subs: Ingram, Docherty, Giles, Ohio, Sharp, McLoughlin, Omur, Traore, Coyle.

Referee: Darren England

Attendance: 16,881 (1,706 away)