City roared to a statement victory against one of the fancied sides for promotion
Barry Cooper Hull City correspondent
09:00, 21 Sep 2025
Barry is the Hull City correspondent, and previously covered Nottingham Forest for the Nottingham Post/Nottinghamshire Live. Barry has reported on Hull City’s League One title success and Championship campaigns
Oil McBurnie celebrates his goal against Southampton(Image: Zach Forster/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
It may have been a sodden afternoon at the MKM Stadium, but the atmosphere was anything but damp amongst those Hull City supporters who watched their side thump Southampton.
Despite the visitors dominating the ball, it was City who carried all the threat and were worth the 3-0 lead they looked to have preserved until Adam Armstrong netted in the 95th minute to rob the Tigers of a clean sheet their defensive work in the previous 94 minutes warranted.
As it was, goals from the hard-working Kyle Joseph, John Lundstram and Oli McBurnie were more than enough to seal a second win of the campaign for Sergej Jakirovic’s impressive Tigers.
Here, Tigers reporter Barry Cooper looks back on a fine afternoon for the Tigers….
Clinical football is winning football
We see so much possession-based football nowadays and that was evident again on Saturday. Southampton, managed by one of the new breed of coaches who want their sides to play in a firm structure and dominate the ball, had 71 per cent of it but did next to nothing with it. Despite that, rarely did they threaten Ivor Pandur with much of it going from side to side, without carrying any degree of threat.
For all their dominance of the ball in areas that didn’t hurt the Tigers, it was the hosts who carried a threat. City were content to allow Southampton’s central defenders to exchange a thousand passes between each other and build up the pass completion rate, but when they went forward, they punished their tepid visitors.
Having had 35 attempts in the past two games, they mustered just 11 against the Saints and only four on target, but three of those went in the net, and that’s how you do it.
For all the unnecessary faffing on show from the visitors, City delivered an expert example of sitting back, forcing the error, and then making them pay.
A fantastic response
Questions were rightly asked after those successive defeats to Blackburn Rovers and Bristol City, but in the two games since, the Tigers have collected four points from games at Swansea City and at home to Southampton.
That’s a very good return at any stage of the season, especially coming on the back of two poor defeats. Defensively, they’ve tightened up, and going forward, they look a real potent attack.
Since the stalemate at Coventry City, that’s now 10 goals in five games – or 13 in six if you include the Carabao Cup against another Championship side.
The home hoodoo
For those fans still hiding behind the sofa when City play at home, it might be time to emerge into the light because the Tigers have now won two of their three at the MKM Stadium.
Last term, it took City until December 23rd to win a second home game, and they’ve done it before the end of September this time round.
In fact, even dating back to the final weeks of last term, the Tigers won three of their final five at home and now, they’ve claimed two at the start of this and scored three on each occasion.
We all know how crucial the MKM Stadium is, and the fans are certainly responding to the efforts that they’re seeing out on the pitch.
Feed McBurnie and he’ll score
As free transfers go, there won’t have been many better in recent seasons at any level. By his own admission, McBurnie had a frustrating afternoon at times, but he was a threat. His lay-off from Lewie Coyle’s superb cross into the path of John Lundstram was excellent.
He then got on the end of Ryan Giles’ pinpoint free-kick to angle in a terrific header and make it 3-0, essentially killing off the game in the process.
No striker has more goals and assists than McBurnie’s six in the Championship so far, showing why City were right to expend so much effort in signing him this summer.
With delivery from Giles and Coyle, McBurnie will continue to get chances in this team and that goals for tally will continue to tick over nicely.
Magic Mo’s back – and could be missing again
After 319 long days since he limped out of that miserable defeat at Oxford United back on Bonfire Night last year, it was wonderful to see Mohamed Belloumi start a game for Hull City.
He’s had a flurry of cameo appearances off the bench since returning against Blackburn Rovers, including a good hour in the Under-21s win over Birmingham City, but to finally start a game for City was a huge boost for him, first and foremost. Of course, having him back is huge for the Tigers because he’s a player with obvious quality, and his absence was badly felt last term.
Unfortunately, as so often happens after an ACL injury, hamstring problems flare up, and now, he faces a nervous wait to find out the extent of his problem, which we hope is not too serious.
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