Hull City vs Barnsley. Sky Bet Championship.
MKM StadiumAttendance10,272.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash at the KCOM Stadium
Wednesday 26 February 2020 22:54, UK
Barnsley's quest to avoid relegation gained further momentum with a 1-0 victory at troubled Hull.
Gerhard Struber's side remain in the drop zone, but they have now won three Sky Bet Championship matches on the bounce thanks to Cauley Woodrow's first-half goal.
Woodrow cashed in on George Long's dreadful mistake after 42 minutes to claim a 14th league goal of the season.
Barnsley are now just six points adrift of Hull, who have not won in the league for nine games, and were good value for this victory.
To serve notice of their newly discovered intent, the visitors started brightly at the KCOM Stadium - and could have opened the scoring after 14 minutes.
Jacob Brown's goalbound strike was firstly well blocked inside the six-yard box by defender Jordy De Wijs.
The ricochet from that chance fell kindly to Aapo Halme, whose well-directed shot was deflected over the crossbar for a corner.
Hull had their moments on the counterattack, but Barnsley were comfortably the most assured team from there on in.
Luke Thomas underscored that fact after 26 minutes when he pulled clear of two defenders, only to wildly misfire from a tight angle.
Thomas was also involved when Woodrow's neat pass across the penalty box found the 21-year-old in lots of space on the right after 31 minutes.
The midfielder was this time on target, with Long beaten, but Matthew Pennington did well to snuff out the danger close to the goal-line.
Hull responded with a stylish attack on the break from which striker Josh Magennis ought to have scored from a central position.
Goalkeeper Bradley Collins was, however, impressively alert to the danger.
If head coach Grant McCann anticipated an upturn in fortunes following that chance, his optimism was fleeting as Barnsley deservedly opened the scoring soon afterwards.
Conor Chaplin's low cross from the left should have been routinely stopped with two hands by Long.
But the goalkeeper allowed the ball to squirm through his fingers, with Woodrow the grateful recipient from an unmissable position.
Long at least partially made up for that error when he stayed big to stop Brown in a one-on-one position inside first-half stoppage time.
Hull improved after the restart, with substitute Martin Samuelsen not too far away with a downwards header which was pawed to safety by Collins.
Collins later tipped Jackson Irvine's close-range header over the crossbar after a good headed cross from Pennington, who had earlier blocked Michael Sollbauer's powerful drive off the line at the other end.
That was as good as it got for Hull, who could find no way past a resolute Barnsley, whose supporters left East Yorkshire with conviction that the once inevitable threat of relegation could yet be avoided.
Hull's Grant McCann: "We got what we deserved. Barnsley were the better team and won fair and square - we didn't perform. We've not got two options: we either go under or we roll our sleeves up. We've got to try and find that win that will kickstart our season - the sooner the better.
"Confidence is a big thing in football. Confidence is a big thing in life, never mind football. We have to pick them (the players) up and go again. We are not stupid, we know the position we're in. There's going to be a lot of negativity. We're not making any excuses, but what we've got to now is knuckle down."
Barnsley's Gerhard Struber: "The last few performances have given every single player a good feeling. The belief is to stay in the league. We can stay in the league with our quality and our aggression. Some teams maybe don't think they are in the relegation (fight), but it's very close for many teams right now.
"For us, it's not new to play with this pressure, but for other teams maybe it is. This was a very important victory when we see the table and see all the teams at the bottom picking up points. It's a good moment right now, but for the next few weeks we have to work in the same style and with the same conviction that we can stay in the league."
