Oxford 1-0 Hull: Hidde ter Avest seals narrow win for U's

Dutch defender Hidde ter Avest scored on his debut to earn Oxford a first win in nine games - 1-0 against Hull at the Kassam Stadium.

The Tigers enjoyed much the better of the first half but could not find the net.

And Ter Avest converted Greg Leigh's cross 10 minutes after the break following a cross-field pass by Tyler Goodrham which left Hull's defence stretched.

Victory saw promoted Oxford leapfrog Hull in the Sky Bet Championship and was a welcome return to winning ways after four without a win at home.

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By contrast, this defeat extended Hull's winless run to six games to increase the pressure on boss Tim Walter.

U's head coach Des Buckingham made five changes to his line-up after Saturday's 2-1 home defeat by Swansea.

Hull were unable to call upon Ecuadorian midfielder Oscar Zambrano, who was suspended by the South American Football Confederation for breaching anti-doping rules, or England Under-20 winger Abu Kamara, who was sidelined with an ankle injury.

The Tigers started brightly, with Kasey Palmer firing over from just outside the box in the fourth minute and Xavier Simons smashing Mohamed Belloumi's right-wing cross high and wide 15 minutes later.

The visitors were keeping the ball well and from a superb move involving half the team, Abdulkadir Omur was played in but goalkeeper Jamie Cumming managed to save his low shot.

The U's were having to live off scraps and struggled at times to get out of their own half.

Belloumi was very unlucky not to put City ahead in the 33rd minute when he saw a curling 22-yard shot come back off the far post with an unsighted Cumming rooted to his spot.

Despite being outplayed at times, Oxford had an excellent chance at the end of the first half when keeper Ivor Pandur beat out Ter Avest's far-post header from Leigh's cross.

Shortly afterwards, following Ter Avest's opener, the home side suffered a blow when central defender Ben Nelson appeared to pull a groin muscle and had to hobble off.

Belloumi continued to look the most likely to score for Hull and the Algerian drove the ball across the face of the goal from 12 yards.

Moments later, Cumming got behind a powerful drive from outside the area by Regan Slater.

But the goal had knocked the stuffing out of the visitors and although substitute Chris Bedia went close with a volley, Oxford defended well to see out the closing minutes.

The managers

Oxford's Des Buckingham:

"It's funny how things can be spun because one media outlet said we hadn't won in eight, but we'd also only lost two in eight. This year has been about picking up points as we go and we have managed to do that in seven of the nine that we have played.

"The win is always better and we know how important that is to keep us where we want to be. But it was a different type of performance and a different set-up, but the pleasing thing is that we have got the result.

"We knew that Hull would want to play and we worked a lot on it. I had no doubt about Hidde's pedigree. He has played in Italy's Serie A against some very good players.

"I'm delighted for Hidde getting the goal in his first start. He told me he was starting to cramp up after about 70 minutes but I'm not surprised because it was his first start."

Hull's Tim Walter:

"I'm disappointed with the result but not the performance because we played quite well - but we could not score. If you can't score then one moment for the opposition can hurt you - that's football.

"We had a lot of chances and if we score goals then everything is different. And we couldn't find the answer after losing a goal.

"Unfortunately at the moment it's hard for us but it's a young team. It's all about development and improvement and I can see the signs that they are improving, but at the moment things are not on our side."

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