REPORT | HULL CITY 1 ARGYLE 1
Hull City 1
Slater 44
Argyle 1
Randell 22
After the festival of goals last weekend, Argyle needed just the one from Adam Randell to secure a hard-earned point at Hull City.
The Pilgrims were pegged back by a Regan Slater leveller in the dying seconds of the first half and needed all their defensive discipline to stem their in-form hosts.
Connor Hazard produced three cracking late saves to confirm the draw and Argyle can move forward to the midweek visit from Millwall with another point on the board.
On the day his captain, Joe Edwards, made his 500th career appearance, Argyle manager Steven Schumacher made just one enforced change from the superb 6-2 defeat of Norwich City, Macaulay Gillesphey replacing the injured Lewis Gibson in defence.
Hull entered the game on a run of five unbeaten in the league and they started with a confident spell of possession, as the Greens settled into a period of containment, with Gillesphey lining up alongside Dan Scarr and Julio Pleguezuelo in a back three.
A surging run from Cyrus Christie asked a few questions of the defensive trio before his final pass missed the intended target and Argyle replied with Finn Azaz slipping a pass to Ryan Hardie, who was unable to fin enough venom in the shot to trouble Ryan Allsop.
The lively Jaden Philogene floated a decent effort narrowly over Connor Hazard’s crossbar for the Tigers but the next meaningful attack saw Argyle grab the lead against the general run of play.
Randell started a delightful team move that involved Edwards and Azaz, who released Bali Mumba on the left. His fizzing cross was parried by Allsop and Randell, who had continued his run into the box, slammed the rebound into the gaping net.
Morgan Whittaker was next to the fore, feeding Edwards with a delicious pass and when Hull eventually cleared, the ball ricocheted off the unsuspecting Azaz and almost bounced in for a bizarre second.
The Pilgrims were now playing with wonderful belief and fluency, with Azaz pulling the strings, and he was painfully unlucky to see his rifled shot strike the post and roll agonisingly across the face of goal.
Momentum, that favourite word in the Ryder Cup, was going Argyle’s way, which made it especially frustrating to concede an equaliser on the stroke of half-time, Philogene crossing low for Slater to convert from close range.
Adama Traore whistled a shot over the bar early in the second period, as the Tigers again looked bright in possession. Edwards was called upon to produce a superb goal-saving block before Argyle’s first change of the afternoon, Kaine Kesler-Hayden replacing Gillesphey.
Azaz curled a shot inches wide on the hour but it was a second half lacking the same rhythm of the first. Whittaker did have a shot deflected before the introduction of Mustapha Bundu for Mumba.
A rare moment of quality in an attritional second period saw Hull skipper Jean Michael Seri beautifully work the ball into the path of Philogene, but he was denied by solid positioning from Hazard.
Matt Butcher and Luke Cundle replaced Randell and Azaz but Hull still looked a mild threat, Liam Delap clipping the top of the bar after a deflected shot. Tyler Morton did find the target as the game entered stoppage time but Hazard was equal to the challenge.
Morton then fizzed in a low cross for Alfie Jones, who was thwarted by an even better save from Hazard, quickly followed by the towering custodian tipping over a strike from Philogene.
The final chance fell to Hardie, who flicked the ball wide from a Whittaker cross. Honours even at the MKM Stadium.
Hull City: 17 Ryan Allsop, 3 Ruben Vinagre (2 Lewie Coyle 71), 5 Alfie Jones, 6 Sean McLoughlin, 10 Adama Traore (20 Liam Delap 62), 15 Tyler Morton, 23 Jaden Philogene, 24 Jean Michael Seri (capt), 27 Regan Slater (30 Scott Twine 62), 33 Cyrus Christie, 44 Aaron Connolly. Substitutes (not used): 1 Matt Ingram (gk), 11 Dogukan Sinik, 26 Andy Smith, 41 Tyrell Sellars, 42 Rocco Coyle.
Booked: Christie 89, Delap 90+4
Argyle: 21 Conor Hazard; 2 Bali Mumba (15 Mustapha Bundu 74), 3 Macaulay Gillesphey (29 Kaine Kesler-Hayden 55), 4 Jordan Houghton, 5 Julio Pleguezuelo, 6 Dan Scarr, 8 Joe Edwards (capt), 9 Ryan Hardie, 10 Morgan Whittaker, 18 Finn Azaz (28 Luke Cundle 82), 20 Adam Randell (7 Matt Butcher 82). Substitutes (not used): 25 Callum Burton (gk), 14 Mickel Miller, 16 Lewis Warrington, 19 Tyreik Wright, 23 Ben Waine.
Booked: Azaz 47, Pleguezuelo 77
Referee: David Webb
Attendance: 20,31