Report - Hull City 2-0 Huddersfield Town

Huddersfield Town story posted by Sean Makin on 09/08/2015
Goals from Hull City debutants Sam Clucas and Chuba Akpom condemned Huddersfield Town to a defeat on the opening day of the 2015/16 season.Report - Hull City 2-0 Huddersfield Town

Town were organised but were toothless going forward and Clucas delivered a sucker punch five minutes before the break.

Chris Powell's men had a lot of the possession in the second half but lacked that quality in the final third before Akpom fired in Hull's second with their first attack of the half.

Powell gave debuts to Jason Davidson, Martin Cranie and Dean Whitehead while winger Sean Scannell missed out due to a hamstring injury.

Town's other summer signings Jordi Hiwula and Kyle Dempsey were on the bench.

James Vaughan was absent with a concussion and Joe Lolley was also missing through injury which led to a place on the bench for Adam Hammill.

Hull, managed by former Town boss Steve Bruce, gave debuts to former Newcastle United defender Ryan Taylor, Clucas and Arsenal loanees Akpom and Isaac Hayden.

Both sides were testing each other out in the opening minutes but the first chance of the match fell to Town as Harry Bunn hit a shot from the right side of the penalty area just over the bar.

Nahki Wells was up front on his own and had to deal with long balls that were easily dealt with by Hull defenders Michael Dawson and Curtis Davies.

Hull's attacking threat mainly came down the right flank although Nikica Jelavic failed to connect with Taylor's cross.

But on 39 minutes the home side took the lead when Town gave the ball away in the middle of the park which allowed Elmohamady to break free down the right flank.

His deep cross found Clucas unmarked at the far post and after his initial shot was saved by Alex Smithies, he made no mistake with the rebound.

Into the second half and Town were dominating possession but Davidson missed a glorious chance to put the match back on level terms.

Jacob Butterfield's excellent ball over the top found the run of the left-back but he smashed the ball over the bar despite being through on goal.

Ishmael Miller was brought on to give Town a better threat in attack and he laid off the ball for Butterfield to test Allan McGregor with a long range effort on 66 minutes.

Wells failed to connect cleanly with the ball after good play by Bunn down the left but Hull delivered another sucker punch on 71 minutes.

Joel Lynch's poor clearance from a Hull free-kick landed straight at the feet of Akpom, who took a touch before smashing the ball into the top corner of the net.

That second goal for the Tigers gave them confidence and Tom Huddlestone and Clucas tested Smithies.

At the other end Town were taking too many touches allowing Hull to recover. Miller got into a good position but took one touch too many allowing Hull defenders to block his effort.

Next up for Town is a home tie against League Two Notts County in the Capital One Cup.

Teams:

Hull City: McGregor, Taylor (Aluko 65), Dawson, Davies, Robertson, Elmohamady, Hayden, Huddlestone, Clucas, Akpom (Luer 83), Jelavic (Meyler 76).
Subs not used: Jakupovic, Maguire, Dixon, Jahraldo-Martin.

Huddersfield Town: Smithies, Cranie, Hudson, Lynch, Smith (Miller 65), Hogg (Hammill 80), Whitehead (Dempsey 83), Butterfield, Davidson, Wells, Bunn.
Subs not used: Murphy, Wallace, Hiwula, Tronstad.

Referee: Keith Hill
Attendance: 19,361.

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