Wigan Athletic vs Hull City. Sky Bet Championship.
DW StadiumAttendance12,522.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Wigan and Hull City at the DW Stadium as Oscar Estupinan and two from Tyler Smith in the last 15 minutes sealed victory for the Tigers.
Monday 2 January 2023 19:08, UK
Rock-bottom Wigan suffered their third 4-1 defeat in the space of seven days as Hull moved up to 16th place in the Sky Bet Championship with victory at the DW Stadium.
The visitors started well and only a great block from Joe Bennett diverted Alfie Jones' shot behind for a corner. From the resulting set-piece, Sean McLoughlin sent the ball just wide of the far post.
Another corner from Jean Michael Seri was nodded on by McLoughlin before Oscar Estupinan's effort went just wide of the right-hand post.
The respite was only temporary, however, with Hull taking the lead in the 15th minute.
Allahyar Sayyadmanesh appeared to be tripped by Curtis Tilt as he tried to take delivery of another corner.
Referee Geoff Eltringham allowed play to go on, though, and skipper Jacob Greaves fired home with his left foot.
The rest of the half was virtually exhibition stuff, with Hull playing keep ball and Wigan struggling to get anything going in terms of possession.
Wigan sent on on-loan Everton striker Nathan Broadhead for Callum Lang at the break, and right from the restart the tempo was much better.
Indeed, it was Broadhead who bagged the equaliser on 63 minutes, from a superb inswinging corner from James McClean.
It was all Wigan at this point, as the home side enjoyed their best spell of the game by far.
The Hull defence had to dig in to repel several fine deliveries in from McClean, before Tilt headed Max Power's cross just over the top.
At the other end, Wigan required Jamie Jones to provide some perfect handling as he collected Cyrus Christie's fizzing right-wing cross.
Norwegian junior international Thelo Aasgaard and ex-Hull man Josh Magennis appeared off the bench to give Wigan fresh legs.
But, as Wigan looked the more likely side to win it, Hull regained the lead with 12 minutes remaining.
It was an awful goal to concede from Wigan's point of view, with Tilt inadvertently setting up Estupinan, whose finish went in off Jack Whatmough.
The points were sealed with five minutes to go when substitute Tyler Smith took the ball round Jones and converted into an empty net from a tight angle.
As the home fans filtered away from their seats, Smith grabbed his second goal with virtually the last kick from all of a yard.
Wigan's Kolo Toure: "It was a very tough result. The 4-1 scoreline doesn't reflect the game, in my opinion. I felt for 75 minutes, we were battling, and we were on top in the second half. I thought we would have gone on to score the second goal and put the game to bed, but we conceded three goals in the last 15 minutes again. It is very tough to take, but we will be working hard to correct those errors, and be more focused at the end of the game. We need to communicate better, so we can avoid those goals.
"We are giving easy goals away at the moment, we then need to chase the game which opens the team up. There are things we can improve, and we just need to be positive and keep fighting. This result puts us in a tough place but we have got to keep going. We just have to stick together and keep believing in ourselves. We need to keep working hard in training, and we will do everything we can to make things better."
Hull's Liam Rosenior: "I thought in the first half some of the football we played was a joy to watch and that's what I want to bring. The players are taking on board the messages, the coaching on the training ground, and I really enjoyed it. I was sitting back just watching us play, playing freely and with quality, attacking the opposition. The only downside is that we were only a goal up and, in the Championship, you know any ball in your box, any set-play can cause you problems, and that's how they score.
"They put in a great performance, in terms of Wigan's spirit. Kolo has got them right at it and they caused us problems for 15 minutes. We had to make a couple of tactical adjustments, and fortunately for us on this occasion they worked and we managed to win the game. It sums up the Championship, if you think you've cracked it at any stage of the game or season then you'll get undone. It's such a hard league, every team has the quality and that's why the points totals are so close.
"We have to make sure that we don't get complacent in our performances, that we see set-plays out and that's something that we're working really hard on addressing."
