By Ronnie Langhorne

Hull City slipped to a narrow 1-0 defeat in the final home league game of the season against Derby County this afternoon.

Rubén Sellés made just one change from his starting XI that defeated Preston North End on Easter Monday. That switch came in midfield as Gustavo Puerta started the clash ahead of fellow Colombian midfielder Steven Alzate.

The Tigers caused Derby a few early problems at MKM Stadium and had the first effort on goal after nine minutes when Regan Slater forced Josh Vickers into a routine stop from distance.

Midway through the first-half, Nordin Amrabat was taken down by Matt Clarke and subsequently won a free-kick on the edge of the Derby area. Puerta took the set-piece and curled his effort towards goal, which was well held by Vickers.

Minutes later, Sean McLoughlin produced an excellent last-ditch challenge to thwart Kane Wilson from getting a shot at Ivor Pandur’s goal from inside the area.

Harrison Armstrong looked to test Pandur from the edge of the area six minutes before the interval, but Kyle Joseph got in the way of the effort to turn it behind for a corner.

John Egan went close to breaking the deadlock in first-half stoppage time, but his curling effort from outside the box was too high to test Vickers, as both sides went into the break goalless. 

62%

Possession

38%
15

Shots

6
2

Shots On Target

2
5

Corners

3
11

Fouls

15

1

0

Cards

2

0

City started the second period brightley and Puerta was unfortunate to see his drive arrow narrowly wide of Vickers’ right-hand post when ambitiously taking aim from 25 yards.

Joe Gelhardt was next to go close just after the hour. The forward did excellently to work space for himself on the edge of the area before seeing his effort deflect behind for a corner.

The Tigers really turned up the pressure heading into the final 20 minutes at MKM Stadium and it took a superb last-ditch tackle from Sondre Langås to deny Amrabat from getting a shot away inside the box.

Wilson had Derby’s best chance of the half so far on 80 minutes, advancing down the right before firing the ball wide of the near post from inside the area.

  • Lewie Coyle plays a pass inside
  • Lewie Coyle plays a pass inside

Disaster struck in the final moments as the visitors opened the scoring. Seven minutes from time, Nat Phillips headed home Craig Forsyth’s free-kick from six yards to give the Rams the lead. 

The Tigers were unable to find a leveller in the closing stages and fell to defeat at MKM Stadium. 

Sellés' side travel to Portsmouth on the final day in our final game of the Sky Bet Championship campaign.

Attendance: 24,451

Report by: Ronnie Longhorne

Hull City: Pandur, Coyle, Egan (Jones 61'), Hughes, McLoughlin, Slater (Alzate 14'), Puerta, Kamara (João Pedro 88'), Gelhardt, Amrabat (Burstow 88'), Joseph (Crooks 88')

Subs: Jones, João Pedro, Lincoln, Alzate, Drameh, Crooks, Lo-Tutala, Palmer, Burstow

Derby: Vickers, Langås, Phillips, Clarke, Wilson, Thompson (Méndez-Laing 68'), Armstrong, Adams, Forsyth, Yates (Barkhuizen 91'), Harness (Jackson 80')

Subs: Barkhuizen, Osborn, Roofe, Méndez-Laing, Luthra, Goudmijn, Jackson, Blackett-Taylor, Pieters

Extended highlights of Hull City 0-1 Derby County are available on Tigers Plus

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