Ipswich Town 1-0 Hull City: Azor Matusiwa fires Kieran McKenna’s men to key victory over Tigers

Ipswich Town kept up the pressure at the top of the Championship after downing promotion rivals Hull City 1-0 at Portman Road.

The only goal of the game came from midfielder Azor Matusiwa’s rocket of a shot from the edge of the penalty area in the 71st minute.

Ipswich’s third successive victory saw them leapfrog Millwall into third spot on 63 points and three behind second-placed Middlesbrough, with a game in hand.

Hull remain fifth on 60 points after a first away defeat in nine games stretching back to November.

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Tough game

The Blues boss Kieran McKenna, however, did not enjoy his side’s victory as much as he did the 3-0 success over Swansea City on Saturday.

“It was a tough game, a frustrating game,” he said. “I think I had a fair idea [of] the type of game it would be. It was so, so different to Saturday.

“There’s bits that we could play our part in that, but the reality is that when a team come with good players, good legs, experienced defenders and sit with 11 so deep and take their time every time the ball goes out of play, it’s very rarely going to be a fantastic game of football.

“We didn’t create the pressure that we would have wanted in the first half, didn’t create enough clear-cut chances, probably one clear chance, but didn’t create as much as we like.

“It was really important not to concede, and they had a counter threat, and we defended some of those well.

“Keeping a clean sheet was a positive, and I thought second half was better right up to the point of the goal and came when the pressure was building.”

Match action

It was end-to-end action in the early exchanges, and Town skipper Dara O’Shea put a halt to a dangerous Hull attack before charging out from the back to feed Sindre Walle Egeli, but his shot was blocked by Lewis Coyle for a corner.

Neat play between Jack Taylor, Marcelino Nunez and George Hirst led to a half chance for Taylor, but he dragged his shot narrowly wide of City goalkeeper Ivor Pandur’s right-hand post.

A defensive lapse by Hull nearly let in the hosts when Taylor stole the ball near the corner flag and fed the ball into Hirst, whose first-time effort from an acute angle went straight at Pandur.

At the other end, O’Shea was eased off the ball by Lewis Koumas, who darted into the penalty area, but Matusiwa swept the ball away for a corner, which was punched clear by Ipswich goalkeeper Christian Walton.

Liam Millar’s darting run down the left saw him make his way into the Ipswich penalty area, but his rifled shot went wide of Walton’s right-hand post, and Jack Clarke was fouled just outside the penalty area by Cody Drameh, but Nunez’s free-kick was safely gathered by Pandur.

Deadlock broken

The deadlock was broken when Matusiwa struck a venomous shot from just outside the penalty area past a helpless Pandur for his first goal for Ipswich.

It came after substitute Anis Mehmeti tried to dance his way through a crowded box, but the ball fell loose to fellow substitute Leif Davis, who rolled the ball into Matusiwa’s path.

Pandur then brought off an amazing save to keep Hull in the game.

Wes Burns’ low cross was met by Clarke, but the keeper spread himself to make the save, and the rebound fell to Clarke again, but the ball struck the post and was cleared.

But Hull could not make the most of Pandur’s heroics, as despite having to withstand late pressure, Ipswich held on for a crucial three points.

Deserved

Hull had won their last five away games in all competitions and had not lost on the road since November.

But head coach Sergej Jakirovic said Town “deserved” to win the game as they moved three points clear of his City side.

“I think Ipswich deserved to win by the one goal,” Jakirovic said. “But they didn’t create a big chance until this goal. After this goal, there was one attack.

“Defensively, we were good, and this is the only way how you can play against Ipswich because they are very good on the ball, a lot of possession, a lot of good players.

“But after we conceded the goal, we showed we can play, we can press them, we can push them, and unfortunately, we did not score even though we had some situations.

“It’s a lack of better decisions that you can look on the other side that you switch the side and maybe we can play better in these moments.

“It’s frustrating sometimes, but it’s quality. We had our moments, but we didn’t use it.”

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