Northampton Town 0-2 Hull City: Tigers move up to second with impressive win

Hull City moved up to second in League One with an accomplished performance against a physical and direct Northampton Town side on Saturday afternoon. Despite starting off on the back foot, the Tigers scored twice in the first half without reply through Keane Lewis-Potter and George Honeyman to move up to the summit of League One, behind only Ipswich Town on goal difference.

Story of the match

It was Northampton who had the impetus from the kick off, with Hull City under the cosh in the first two minutes. However, the Tigers managed to calm the play down and keep the score at 0-0. The Cobblers were going direct from the get go, launching the ball towards their forwards to try and put the Hull back line under pressure.

Hull's first chance to threaten came from Josh Emmanuel winning a free kick on six minutes, but Callum Elder swung the ball too deep and wasted the opportunity. Northampton had the majority of the play in the first ten minutes, but after winning a number of corners and putting the ball into the box, nothing came of any of the chances. Matt Ingram was almost caught in no-man's land on 12 minutes, but the ball went out of play to safety.

On 16 minutes, Joe Martin took out Emmanuel and that gave Elder another chance to cross, and a better ball in saw Hull win the corner. Lewis-Potter, however, couldn't steer the ball goalwards from the set piece. The quality on show was not high to say the least, with the wind causing disruption for both sides and had a detrimental effect on the spectacle.

The first spark of quality came from Lewis-Potter for the Tigers, who nicked the ball off Luka Racic and curled a shot from all of 25 yards. Unfortunately for the away side, it flashed just wide of the far post. Jordy De Wijs then went into the book for a cynical foul in the middle of the park. The game was incredibly stop-start and after Josh Magennis went into the book also on the half hour mark, Joseph Mills brought a good save from Ingram from a free kick.

It was a City set piece that broke the deadlock. Elder went to take, but dummied for George Honeyman to curl a wonderful cross onto Lewis-Potter's head and he made no mistake to put the Tigers 1-0 up. Lewis-Potter went down in the area soon after and perhaps could have been awarded a penalty kick from the rough treatment from Northampton's back line.

Honeyman had the ball in the net for a second time for the visitors on 39 minutes, but the linesman's flag was raised swiftly for offside. Northampton could have levelled in bizarre circumstances soon after - Ingram's kick out smacked off a Northampton man and out for a goal kick, but a free kick was given by the referee Alan Young. Indeed, the man in the middle was keen to blow the whistle, with 24 fouls given in the first half alone.

Honeyman was destined to score, it seemed. It was a quick free kick from Greg Docherty to Elder, who fed Hakeeb Adelakun. He threaded the ball through to the ex-Sunderland man; and under pressure from the defenders, he kept his cool and slotted the ball home to make it 0-2. Lewis-Potter fed Docherty soon after but he failed to hit the target as the half time whistle went, with the Tigers ending the half in clinical fashion.

Neither side made changes at half time, and the second half saw the wind still causing both teams major challenges. Docherty went into the book early on in the half, and the game continued in the same way - very stop start and fragmented with the referee failing to let the game flow. Hull were very happy to sit back and soak up the long balls and direct play from the Cobblers.

The first real chance of the second half came on 67 minutes as Hull won a couple of corners in quick succession. It was James Scott the substitute who almost got on the end of an Elder cross, with his header flashing wide of the post as Hull looked to push for a third goal to finish Northampton off. Keith Curle went for it with 18 minutes to go - going 3-4-3 with three strikers up front to try and make the most of the direct style of play his side favours.

With five minutes to go, substitute Nicky Adams went close for the home side with a chipped effort from the outside of the area that made Ingram retreat frantically, but the attempt just missed the bar and went behind to safety. Sam Hoskins' thunderous shot caught De Wijs full in the face as the final minute approached, with the Dutchman temporarily leaving the field before managing to return for the five minutes of added time.

Great play from Emmanuel and Honeyman created a header for Magennis, but Steve Arnold tipped the effort over for a corner to keep the score 0-2. There were no other chances for either side in injury time as Hull took the spoils back to East Yorkshire and kept up their impressive start to the season.

Takeaways from the match

Even without in form Mallik Wilks - missing with a reported slight knock - Hull City looked good value for their win. They have recruited very well in this transfer window and have added key players to their squad in positions they were crying out for reinforcements in last year. Keane Lewis-Potter and George Honeyman grabbed goals, but all over the park the East Yorkshire side looked calm and assured despite the constant barrage of long balls and throws from the home side.

Perhaps Nicky Adams should have been introduced much earlier for Northampton - he certainly looked the most likely to score with his audacious effort, and although it was no doubt fitness that caused him to start on the bench, Cobblers fans will no doubt want to see the forward on the pitch from the get-go if they are to get back to winning ways next week.

Stand-out players

George Honeyman made Hull City tick in the centre of the park. He was involved in the first goal and scored the second, showing real quality against the direct and physical presence of Northampton. With Richie Smallwood injured, Honeyman donned the captain's armband for the game and put in a performance that further increases his credentials with the Hull City faithful. He may have taken his time to win the fans over, but he has been remarkable since the start of the season and is no doubt the first name on Grant McCann's team sheet for the foreseeable future.

Northampton battled bravely but their direct form of football was a little too predictable to trouble Hull City too much. They started well and put the Tigers under pressure, but Hull grew into the game as the first half wore on and never really gave any chances the way of the Cobblers' strikers. They even put three men up front towards the end but failed to utilize any of them effectively - apart from some flashes from Nicky Adams.