Bristol City vs Hull City. Sky Bet Championship.
Ashton GateAttendance20,333.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Bristol City and Hull City at Ashton Gate as Nahki Wells scored a 70th-minute penalty to seal a narrow victory for the Robins.
Saturday 25 February 2023 18:56, UK
Substitute Nahki Wells powered home a second-half penalty as Bristol City extended their unbeaten run to 12 games with a 1-0 Sky Bet Championship victory over Hull at Ashton Gate.
The striker sent goalkeeper Karl Darlow the wrong way with a fierce 70th-minute spot-kick after Anis Mehmeti's cross from the left had struck a defender's arm.
It looked a harsh decision, but the hosts deserved their win for edging a contest packed with commitment from both teams.
Robins manager Nigel Pearson made one change as his team looked to build on their impressive unbeaten sequence, Tomas Kalas replacing the injured Rob Atkinson, while Hull gave a debut to Darlow, on loan from Newcastle.
The hosts, wearing their new home shirt, red with double white pinstripes, made a fast start and Mark Sykes had a low shot saved by Darlow's outstretched leg in the opening minute.
A goal-bound volley from George Tanner was blocked for a corner by the Hull defence before the Tigers had their first shot on seven minutes, Xavier Simons' effort from distance going wide.
Darlow had to go full length to keep out Sam Bell's low drive in the 12th minute. Then Mehmeti went down inside the box claiming a Robins penalty, but referee Sam Barrott was well placed and waved play on.
Oscar Estupinan might have fired Hull in front in the 26th minute, but he dragged his shot wide having broken through the hosts' back line.
Cyrus Christie had a shot deflected for a corner but, at the other end, Hull were having to defend for their lives from a succession of dangerous crosses.
Mehmeti had a shot blocked in the final meaningful action of an open first half, which the Robins edged without finding a cutting edge.
Hull boss Liam Rosenior, back at the ground where he made his name as a player, changed things at the break, sending on Ryan Longman for Ozan Tufan.
Sykes sent a curling shot wide as the hosts looked to start the second half on the front foot. Again the home side were getting behind their opponents at will without fashioning a telling cross.
Rosenior responded with another change in the 55th minute, replacing Malcolm Ebiowei with Benjamin Tetteh. His side were showing plenty of defensive commitment, throwing bodies in the way of shots.
After Wells' penalty had broken the deadlock, Hull almost levelled when Tetteh's header from a 74th-minute corner hit a post before the ball was scrambled clear.
Bristol City goalkeeper Max O'Leary saved with his legs from Ryan Longman, but Pearson's men controlled the closing stages to boost confidence ahead of Tuesday night's FA Cup fifth-round home clash with Manchester City.
Bristol City's Nigel Pearson:
"On the opening day of the season at their place, we had two stonewall appeals turned down, while they were awarded a highly dubious one. I can understand Liam's frustration, but I can't express sympathy when we went 400 odd days without being awarded a penalty and had other several obvious ones not given by officials.
"This was a hard-earned win against a side who defended their box with a lot of commitment. We got into some really good positions in the first half without finding that cutting edge. In the second half, we still looked dangerous and finished the game strongly. It's nice to go into our FA Cup tie with Manchester City on Tuesday night with a good result behind us. Twelve games unbeaten is a real upturn in form for us and, while I always look for improvement, the players deserve a great deal of credit."
Hull's Liam Rosenior:
"It was not a penalty. There is no way Cyrus could have got out of the way because the ball was driven at him. He never went to deliberately handle the ball and you just want common sense in that situation. But it was not the reason we lost. Our team performance was very much below par. We reacted well to falling behind, but I want that sort of performance from the start of games.
"It is no good playing well for 25 minutes out of the 90. We were fortunate to go in at the break with game goalless. mThe second half was better and we hit a post, but you have to make your own luck in the Championship and we didn't deserve any today. I want to see the reaction we showed to going behind from the first whistle. We didn't have that today and I find that bitterly disappointing."
