Hull City vs Leeds United. Sky Bet Championship.
MKM StadiumAttendance24,221.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Hull City and Leeds at the MKM Stadium as Joe Rodon saw red for United as they held on for a draw. Adama Traore missed a sitter late on for the Tigers.
Wednesday 20 September 2023 23:16, UK
Leeds overcame Joe Rodon's second-half sending-off to secure a goalless draw at Hull.
Daniel Farke's men had the best chances of the first half - most significantly through the wasteful Georginio Rutter after 26 minutes - but they found debutant goalkeeper Ryan Allsop in inspired form.
Leeds supporters will have expected their team to kick on after the restart, but they were always up against it once Rodon was dismissed for a second bookable offence on the hour.
Hull head coach Liam Rosenior will be satisfied that their promising start to the season continued, now unbeaten since the opening day at Norwich.
But Rosenior will have expected much better of his offensive players inside the final third - not least when substitute Adama Traore somehow missed an open goal with two minutes remaining in normal time.
Given both sides' fondness for playing football firmly on the front foot, it was perhaps a surprise that the game began so sluggishly.
Dan James swiped one high and wide early on, but neither Leeds nor Hull fans had much to shout about within the first 20 minutes.
The visitors' gameplan was also disrupted when Willy Gnonto suffered an ankle injury and was replaced by Crysencio Summerville.
Ironically, Gnonto's substitution seemed to awake Leeds from their slumber.
And they should have opened the scoring when Summerville threaded a lovely ball through the middle to Rutter.
Allsop expertly saved the one-on-one with his legs, but Rutter should have scored.
Summerville might then have got in on the act moments later, but Allsop reacted well with a sharp tip-over from a stinging hit on the left.
Allsop also thwarted Summerville from 20 yards with a lovely save at full stretch from the Dutch playmaker's goalbound half-volley after 42 minutes.
Leeds' relative dominance - not from a possession perspective but in terms of chances created - continued soon after the restart.
James and Summerville had opportunities off Luke Ayling's smart cut-back, but Alfie Jones and Jacob Greaves refused to yield with brave defending inside the six-yard box.
Hull, however, slowly grew into a game that changed once Rodon was sent off.
The Leeds centre-back was lured into a rash challenge on Aaron Connolly on the halfway line.
Having already been booked for a first-half foul on Jaden Philogene, referee Stephen Martin had little option but to show a red card.
Predictably, given their one-man handicap, Leeds were forced to retreat for long periods of the second half.
But other than Liam Delap's powerful run and cross on the right, from which Connolly came within a stud's length of connecting, the hosts were never especially threatening.
That was until the 88th minute when Connolly teed up Traore, but the Mali international extraordinarily struck the far post with the goal at his mercy.
Hull's Liam Rosenior:
"These are the teams we want to compete with, but we need to keep pushing. There are a lot of really, really positive signs and that's pleasing.
"We were close to beating what is a very, very good team. First half, they were the best team. Second half, we were the better team. And then from the red card onwards it was domination as it should be.
"It (Traore's big chance) was coming as we built up so much pressure. But what you can't do is throw the kitchen sink against a team like Leeds, who scored three on the transition against Millwall on Sunday.
"We kept pushing and knocking on the door and then we had that great chance at the end. We're a very young team. It's not belief, it's managing moments.
"Throughout the squad and in every position, we have competition and that's what I want."
Leeds' Daniel Farke:
"If you offered me a point from the game - on the road and a clean sheet - I wouldn't have taken it as I always want to go for a win.
"But after the game I'm a little divided. We were so dominant after a good starting period and we created so many good chances.
"But, obviously, after 89 minutes they had a monster chance. Normally you lose such a game like that. So, for that, I would say it was definitely a good point.
"We looked rock solid against a good football team. I'm pretty pleased about how well structured we were.
"The only thing I can criticise is not putting the ball in the back of the net."
