Hull City 0-2 Portsmouth: Pompey condemn Tigers to third straight defeat

Hull City were knocked off top spot by Portsmouth with a poor display as two own goals - one from Jacob Greaves and other from Josh Magennis - proved to be the difference between the two sides. What was more remarkable was that Portsmouth won the game despite having no shots on target - the home side could only muster one, as Hull fall to second place in Sky Bet League One.

Story of the match

With the game live on Sky Sports, there was much hype leading up to kick off as Hull and Portsmouth were first and second respectively before kick off. Magennis and Josh Emmanuel were the two changes for the home side, with Rasmus Nicolaisen being the only change for the visitors.

The game started at a fast pace, with both Hull and Pompey going forward in the first couple of minutes without anything in the way of chances. After a Hull attack broke down on five minutes, Marcus Harness won the first corner of the game after his effort was blocked. The resulting corner was swung in and despite Sean Raggett being all over Greaves, the ball ended up in the net for Pompey to lead, despite the consternation of Hull's players and management team. Had VAR been in operation, it may have been chalked off.

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Emmanuel created a chance for Mallik Wilks on ten minutes that the forward really should have done better with - six yards out in front of goal. Portsmouth forced a corner after good work from Harness on 15 minutes, but the home side cleared their lines. Cameron Pring's corner soon after gave Pompey another chance, but again Hull managed to head away after their initial shakiness from the first set piece.

Wilks drove into the area on 20 minutes, but Pompey managed to smother the chance after Pring went down very easily to win a free kick. Hull were looking to get the ball forward quickly with a lot of diagonal balls, but could not make anything stick in the first 25 minutes at all. Overhit passes and poor communication made it look like there would be new leaders going into the weekend fixtures.

Hull got the ball down and played their best passage of play on the half hour mark to force a corner after Callum Elder's cross almost swung in - Craig MacGillivray was called into action to tip the ball over. Pin ball in the Pompey area almost saw Hull have a couple of shooting chances before the away side cleared soon after as the Tigers pressed for an equalizer. They had the better of the play as half time approached but didn't look like breaking through the Pompey defense.

Keane Lewis-Potter entered the fray at half time for the ineffective James Scott, and the youngster had a hand in a good chance for Hull. Elder's shot was poor, but Hull had started the second half with much more impetus than the first. However, Pompey went two up against the run of play. Despite the ball clearly going out for a throw, the play went on and after Greaves committed a foul the away side scored a scrappy goal from the resulting free kick. The ball eventually went in off Magennis and it looked like one of those games for the home side.

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Regan Slater had a shot saved just before the hour mark as Hull tried to find a way back into the game, and Grant McCann sent on Tom Eaves for Slater with around 25 minutes to go. However, Hull did not look like breaking through the solid away defense as time started ticking away. Lewis-Potter showed a great bit of skill to cross to the far post with 20 minutes remaining, but Wilks couldn't stretch to convert.

Magennis came within a whisker of pulling a goal back, heading onto the bar from a good cross in what was Hull's best chance of the game. It certainly wasn't Hull's night as Pompey slowed the play down, winning cheap fouls and taking the sting out of the game in a textbook away performance that sends them to the summit of League One.

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Takeaways from the match

Tigers tame without Honeyman

George Honeyman has been an ever-present in the Hull City side this season, and his absence was certainly felt as the Tigers missed both his energy and set-piece deliveries. This game saw Hull suffer their third consecutive league defeat and their third consecutive game at home where they have failed to score. McCann will also be left scratching his head as to how his side lost a game that the opposition had zero of their own shots on target.

Two own goals enough for Pompey to go top

Kenny Jackett's side defended well, but had no real clear cut chances to score. Both goals came in fortuitous circumstances, as key incidents were missed by the officials - first, a foul on Jacob Greaves for the opener and perhaps more obviously, the ball appeared to go out for a throw in the run up to the free kick that led to their second goal.

Stand-out players

Both Marcus Harness and Cameron Pring stood out for the away side, with the former causing real problems for the Hull defense with his trickery and the latter doing a fine job of marking Mallik Wilks out of the game. Hull looked flat throughout and despite some fairly decent play from substitute Keane Lewis-Potter - whose contract uncertainty seems to be having a detrimental effect on the squad - they certainly didn't look like a team who had gone the first 15 league games without failing to score.

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