Hull City's fixture at St Andrew's last weekend proved to be a massively entertaining game for the neutral, but a frustrating one for the teams involved - especially Grant McCann's side.

Having taken the lead at a lightening quick pace and then adding to their tally fifteen minutes later, Hull could have (and perhaps should have) been three or four up at half time.

A tactical change changed the game, and despite being able to claw back that lead with just over twenty minutes to go, the Tigers conceded late on to share the spoils with Birmingham City.

  • Does Magennis fit the system better than Eaves?

One choice McCann made that was absolutely justified was the decision to play Josh Magennis up front over Tom Eaves. The Northern Irishman was crucial to the number of successes that his team had in the game. Indeed, one could see that his manager's call to start him over fellow striker Eaves proved to be an excellent one. Within two minutes, Magennis had scored. His goal was the first a striker had scored for the club since the 4-4 draw at home to Swansea when Tom Eaves snatched a late equalizer. 

He also led the line and played his position much better than Eaves had against Charlton the week before. Magennis not only scored the first goal, but had a big hand in the second. Credit will go to Leo Da Silva for the assist - and it was certainly a pinpoint cross for James Scott to head home.

However, without Magennis, the chance would not have been created. Where Eaves dropped deep against Charlton and overloaded the midfield, Magennis occupied positions from set pieces much better - which is how the goal was created. He had dropped deep to play Da Silva through, but he was in the right area as the Tigers were looking to break fast when they had the ball. Especially in the first half, the Northern Irishman was integral to Hull's chances of scoring.

  • Leadership shown by Magennis on and off the pitch is vital to the Tigers

However, it is not just the goal he scored or the chances that he created that prove him to be one of the most important members of his team. Starved of the ball for most of the second half when Birmingham were in the ascendancy, Magennis - alongside Scott and Wilks - still played well and looked dangerous as a front three, winning free kicks in vital areas with the little they got of the ball.

One of McCann's mistakes against Birmingham was bringing all three forwards on in a like for like change, just before Herbie Kane put City 2-3 up. However, taking Magennis off in particular meant that aside from the Captain Jordy De Vijs at the back, there were no vocal leaders to whip the Hull team into shape. 

After giving one of his defenders a reminder in the first half about marking Lukas Jutkiewicz, the reporter for Hull Live Phil Buckingham was covering the game and commented on his Twitter account that Magennis' voice was the loudest, even when he was substituted. Buckingham tweeted, "Magennis was subbed 10 minutes ago but he's the only voice you can hear up in the stands. "Stop the... cross... Sort it out." 

The Tigers have fragile confidence, and the voice of a full time International player is something the players need on the pitch if they are to move their way up the table and prevent them from falling through the relegation trap door.

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