Blues boss Paul Hurst was again left bemoaning defensive mistakes after Town fell to a 2-0 defeat at Hull City as they continue to wait for their first win under his management. Jarrod Bowen netted in the third minute for the Tigers, then sub Jackson Irvine sealed the victory for the home side a minute from time.

“We didn’t start the game well enough, not just the goal, just overall and gave Hull probably a shot of confidence that we’d spoken about not doing and trying to build some pressure,” Hurst said.

“A big contribution from ourselves in terms of the goal but we didn’t win enough headers, we didn’t win enough second balls probably until the last 10 minutes of the first half.

“Then I thought we had a good spell and I thought we started the second half brightly but ultimately we didn’t get a goal when we were on top again, something we’d spoken about.

“And then in the end we gave away, I don’t want to take anything away from the Hull lads, but both goals were very avoidable and while I’m not saying we would have got that equaliser, the second goal just kills it altogether, a terrible decision on our part.

“So overall, we’ve been punished again for mistakes. We’ve relied on Dean to make a couple of good saves.

“We’ve had situations and again we can talk about how many saves the keeper makes, I fully accept that, but they were situations where they should be making saves and we haven’t shown enough quality to force them into action.”

While most of the goals Town have conceded this season have come from set pieces, Hull caused the Blues more problems from open play, certainly after the break with Bowen a particular threat.

“At times, second half perhaps when it got a bit more stretched,” Hurst reflected. “We changed formation in an attempt to try and get that equaliser so maybe you leave yourselves a little bit more vulnerable.

“But I didn’t think there was much in the game, to be honest. In the first half there was the goal and the next best opportunity that they had initially, both came from our mistakes.

“If you keep making mistakes, the higher up you go, they’re going to take them more often than not.

“They did take one of them and that made the task a lot more difficult than it needed to be and then didn’t get on the end of things. Balls in the box, we’re not quite there. We have a great ball in and should get an attempt at goal and it ends up us not even getting a shot at goal. That’s making life extremely difficult for yourselves.”

Having played Jon Walters behind Kayden Jackson against Norwich Hurst reverted to only one striker with the Irish international taking that role.

“We just felt that looking at how they played that would suit us best today,” the Blues manager explained. “And Jon, giving him that opportunity to play as the out-and-out striker, I think he did that pretty well at times.

“When we went to two up front [in the second half], maybe we were pushing forward a bit more anyway, but that was when more of the issues occurred in terms of getting caught.

“The second goal was a terrible mistake, as we spoke about, but where the lad actually picks the ball up initially from the first header that we lose, if we’ve got three [midfielders] in there he’s probably not going to get the time that he did.

“We can debate that all day long but the way that you play ultimately, if you play well enough you could play whatever system you want. I genuinely don’t believe the system is the problem.

“Keeping the ball out of our own net is certainly one of them and not being ruthless enough or having maybe a enough desire to get on the end of something is a bigger problem to me, that I see rather than actually how we set up in the first place.”

Hurst admits that the longer the wait for a win goes on the more it can become a mental block.

“I would say so, I’m sure everyone is concerned with the situation that we’re in and the run of form that we’re on, or run of results certainly,” he added.

“I think that was probably, certainly that first half an hour, the poorest we’ve been. I think we’ve been in every game. We still had plenty of time to get in it [after conceding early on] and that’s what we spoke about.

“The goal did look as though it knocked any confidence and it took us time to recover from that. Thankfully we weren’t any further behind and probably didn’t give up that many chances in that first period, I would suggest.

“But it’s going to be like a weight on your shoulders, there’s no getting away from that. I’ve said from the start, I’m not going to pretend, of course it is, and until that result does come, that’s always going to be there.”

Town, bottom of the table, now face an important week with Brentford visiting Portman Road on Tuesday and Bolton next Saturday.

“Yes, and a nice easy one against Brentford to start,” he reflected. “Second in the table and I’d say arguably most people would suggest one of the best footballing teams in the league, if not the best, playing a system with one up front that’s very fluid. They score goals, keep clean sheets, so it couldn’t be a much bigger test for us.

“But it’s one that we’ve got to try and rise to and that’s what it’s about. I can only say how I know I will approach it in the next few days in terms of having a desire to get that victory and in the end my players.

“I’m not trying to say ‘us and them’ or anything like that, we’re all in this together, but the big advantage that the players have is going out there on the pitch and actually being able to try and do something about it. In some ways that’s easier than the task I’ve got at the minute.”

Hull manager Nigel Adkins was thoroughly delighted with the afternoon, his side having ended a run of three successive Championship defeats at the KCOM Stadium from the start of the season.

“Three points, clean sheet, first home victory of the season, dogged performance, well done to the players and well done to the supporters,” he said.

“The last home game we played some really good football, today was a little bit different. We started the game really well in respect of scoring a goal from Jarrod Bowen and for me the game was totally stop-start in the first half, there were so many freekicks, there was no flow to the game whatsoever.

“We got in at half-time 1-0 up, we’ve created some good chances in the second half, the goalkeeper’s made two really good saves from Jarrod Bowen and it was that dogged performance.

“We lost Dan Batty with a knee injury in the first half, Kev Stewart coming on for him.

"Towards the end, the second goal we’ve scored, good play from the ball in to Chris Martin, great centre-forward play to put the ball down to Evandro who has threaded a beautiful pass through for Jackson Irvine, who has shown that desire and tenacity to outmuscle the defender and go through and score a really good goal to finish the game off.”

Photo: TWTD

tallguy6767 added 10:52 - Sep 16 If we don't register a win in the next 2 games we are Brown Bread !! Too many changes too soon for me, don't get me wrong changes were needed but not at the rate Hurst has gone about it !
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inghamspur added 11:34 - Sep 16 Would take a draw against Brentford but that looks ominous. Bolton is a must must must must win....and then need to follow that up as obviously no good if not keeping it going.
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Lathers added 15:05 - Sep 16 Cat - normally agree with you, but I've not seen anything positive to say that we will turn this around. PH sold/released our best players, kept the bang average ones and brought in bang average ones. Receipe for League One. PH has massively under estimated the Championship. I'm not saying we shouldn't get behind the team each game or should shout for Hurst's Head from the terraces, but after 7 games we need to see some light at the end of tunnel. Just can't see it turning around with the playing staff and inexperienced Manager. We don't carry a goal threat, we have little creativity and can't defend. They aren't things that are going to change with what we've got and the style we play.

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cat added 16:51 - Sep 16 Lathers - fair play to you. I can honestly say I'm not flapping in the slightest regarding relegation, it's far to early for that, so I'll see where we are at come the end of October. Regarding our so called best players (who clearly wanted out) what did they actually achieve on a collective note last season?? 12th placed finish! The thing what's costing us is mistakes, BART has handed the opposition 6 goals imo this season, yesterday's fall guy was Downes, not only getting caught in possession in his own half, but not being arsed to track his man back once he'd lost it was nothing short of naive to say the least. I hope PH sticks with his believes and his 4.2.3.1 system a little longer, as reverting back to the old hat 4.4.2 with our Defense with leave us woefully exposed.

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ITFCsince73 added 19:28 - Sep 16 Cakeman, Evans blue, Northstandveteran,cat. All sensible comments as per.
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