City strengthened their grip on a top-six place with a vital home success, beating the Rams 4-2
Barry Cooper Hull City correspondent
11:35, 25 Feb 2026
Lewis Koumas scored Hull City’s fourth against Derby County(Image: Alfie Cosgrove/News Images)
John Eustace praised Hull City’s finishing in a six-goal thriller between the Tigers and Derby County at the MKM Stadium on Tuesday evening.
Both sides served up a Championship classic under the East Yorkshire lights, with City twice seeing leads pegged back in the first half to see it level at 2-2 going into half-time.
City had opened the scoring inside 10 minutes when Amir Hadziahmetovic’s crisp corner was flicked on by Oli McBurnie and into the net via ex-Tigers promotion winner Callum Elder.
The visitors responded with Craig Forsyth tapping in from close range after Ivor Pandur had diverted Lewis Travis’ shot into his path, though the veteran Scotsman was offside by some distance.
McBurnie’s clinical finish made it 2-1, only for Sammie Szmodics to slide in after another block from Pandur and level it up on the stroke of the interval.
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Derby were not without chances of their own in a pulsating encounter between two teams who were battling relegation until the final day of last season, but are now firmly in the play-off reckoning.
City, though, were determined to end their three-game winless run and took the game away from the Rams with two sublime finishes from John Egan and Lewis Koumas in the final 15 minutes.
While disappointed with his side’s defending for all four goals, Eustace was able to give credit to Sergej Jakirovic’s side for their sharpness in front of Josh Vickers’ goal.
“I’m disappointed to lose, of course. It was a cracking game, and I’m proud of the efforts of the group,” Eustace said after seeing his side beaten in East Yorkshire.
“I was disappointed in the manner they scored. We can defend the box much better on all four goals, but I think after the performance on Saturday, when we were very disappointing at Watford and weren’t at the races, we’ve come to a team third or fourth in the league, battled very well against them, and should really be coming away with at least a point.
“We’ve had three or four one-on-one chances – we could have scored five or six goals for sure – but goals change games. If we put one of them away, it’s a different story, but we were against a top team who took their chances.”
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