The Tigers return to North Wales aiming to respond to back-to-back losses
Barry Cooper Hull City correspondent
15:00, 09 Mar 2026
Mohamed Belloumi is set to be in Hull City’s squad at Wrexham(Image: Anna Gowthorpe/Shutterstock)
Hull City will welcome Mohamed Belloumi back into their squad for Tuesday night’s crunch trip to face Wrexham at the Racecourse, as they look arrest a run of successive Championship defeats.
Belloumi hasn’t played since limping out of the 2-2 draw at Sheffield Wednesday on Boxing Day with his second hamstring injury of the season, following his recovery from ACL surgery in November 2024.
The Algerian wing-wizard has been a big miss for boss Sergej Jakirovic, sitting out the last 13 league games since scoring his first goal of the season at Hillsborough.
City will want to be cautious with the winger as they gradually ease him back into first team action, but his return will be a major plus for the Tigers both on Tuesday night, and in the remaining nine games thereafter.
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! Latest Hull City news and analysis on our Hull Live FB page
Crucially, City have no fresh injury concerns from the weekend loss to Millwall. Skipper Lewie Coyle is expected to be in the squad after coming through Saturday without any extra discomfort with the ankle injury he sustained at Ipswich Town.
Matt Crooks sits out the second of his two-game ban, and the Tigers will still be without the injured Yu Hirakawa, Ryan Giles, Akin Famewo, Matty Jacob and Darko Gyabi. Eliot Matazo will continue his return from his ACL injury for the Under-21s against Sheffield United in a game that has now been moved to North Ferriby.
“We’re OK,” Holden told Hull Live. “I think Mo Belloumi comes back into the sqaud, which is a huge bonus for us. Skip Coyley picked up a knock going into the previous game, still feeling the effects of that so we’ll see, but he’s traveling with us. Eliot’s (Matazo) still on plan to play for the Under-21s so other than that I think we’re as we were.
“Listen, he’s got real quality, but again we’re at a stage of the season now when we’re trying to get our players back, we still want to get them back and keep them back.
“It’s not stupid high risk, far from it, but at the same time he’s been out since Boxing Day and such an innocuous injury wasn’t it at Hillsborough, so, he’s pushed hard to get himself back fit and to get back into the gaffer’s thoughts and yeah we’re pleased to have him back with us.
“It’s not a great deal of time. Just a couple of sessions, but he’s worked hard in his rehabilitation. When you’re a player or a manager or a coach, when someone gets injured, the first question is how bad is it, and the second one is when we’re going to get him back.
“There’s always a timescale put on something and I’ve said before, there’s always eight to 10 weeks or six to eight weeks and lads can come back quicker than others. Mo’s been working really hard and he’s pushing. We’ve got to manage his minutes, of course we have, but we’ll we’ll see.”
LISTEN: Dean Holden previews City’s trip to Wrexham and tackles Millwall controversy
City have already experienced the Racecourse this season having gone there in the Carabao Cup back in August. The Tigers were 3-1 up and coasting into round two, before conceding two Eliott Lee headers in stoppage time which took the tie to extra time, before they went out on penalties.
In the league meeting at the MKM Stadium before Christmas, City produced a dominant, professional display to win 2-0, but had Ivor Pandur to thank for a second half penalty save to deny Kieffer Moore, who had earlier missed a sitter from close range.
Phil Parkinson’s men are having another fine season, and ran Chelsea close in the FA Cup on Saturday night with Liam Rosenior’s side needing extra-time to overcome the 10 men.
“The pitch is excellent, I thought they played excellent on Saturday evening, they really did,” Holden continued. “They took a really good Chelsea team all the way, even with 10 men. (George) Dobson, my Charlton captain, he’ll be suspended for tomorrow, which is probably a plus for us. He’s a top player.
“Even with 10 men, I thought they played really well and still carried a threat. For us, you have to respect their threats. They’re a team that put you under a lot of pressure throughout the game in different ways.
“Even with the ball the other night, again with 10 men, they passed it really well. It’s not just a team that are just going to go from back to front at every opportunity, they’ve got different ways to challenge you. They’ve got some good additions to come in, in midfield and in the forward areas in particular. We’re well prepared.
“We played really well in that first cup game, second game of the season, lost on pens, but 3-1 up late in the game. We didn’t manage the last moments of the game well enough and ultimately lost on penalties and put in a really good display at home. Equally we gave up a couple of chances.
“Kieffer Moore’s missed a sitter from the penalty spot, I remember, and there was a penalty save, so we got on the right side of the result in that game. It’ll go all the way, it’ll be a tough game.”
City have now suffered four defeats in their last six game, which has allowed the chasing pack below them to close in. Holden admits injuries have caught up with the Tigers, but is confident the group will be primed and ready.
“You’ve just got to manage each game. We’re in the mix at the moment, we’ve got to re-energise as quickly as we can. They’ve gone 120 minutes a couple of hours after we played, so, we’ll get down there and we’ll be ready.
“Playing teams right in amongst us at the moment and it’s been a tough run for us. We’re still carrying some injuries; the lads are at the maximum in most games. A lot of the changes Sergej’s making is to energise the team.
“We’ve got to find another performance tomorrow night. I don’t think that the previous results will play too much on the negative side for us. I’ll be really honest, we’ve we’ve had a couple of two, three or four game winning runs and maybe not always been the most dominant in them games but got on the right end of the result. We we take positives from the last two performances, Ipswich is a tough place to go and we played really well, and we took the game to them.
“On another night, we could have got a point. We could easily be sat now with four points in the last two games, but we’re not and we won’t let it affect us too much.”
Here at Hull Live , we are dedicated to bringing you the best Hull City coverage and analysis.
Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest City news by joining our free WhatsApp group.
You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe. You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.