Oli McBurnie and Dango Ouattara were both on target on Sunday afternoon as Hull City held by Brentford to a 1-1 draw at home in the Premier League. The hosts were looking to bounce back in front of their own supporters, while the visiting side arrived aiming to push closer to the European spots. A competitive contest saw the points shared at full-time, leaving the home side with three consecutive draws on their own turf and extending the visitors’ run of stalemates away from home.
The opening goal came after Brentford ran into self-inflicted trouble while attempting to build possession from the back. Aaron Hickey brought down Tim Iroegbunam inside the penalty area following the defensive mix-up, leaving the referee with little choice but to award a spot-kick. McBurnie took charge of the situation and calmly fired into the net to give the Tigers an important first-half lead. The strike gave the home supporters plenty of optimism after seeing their team struggle for cutting edge in recent outings.
Brentford refused to stay down for long and gradually worked their way back into contention as the match opened up. Their persistence paid off in the 63rd minute when Ouattara capitalised on hesitant defending inside the Hull penalty box to level matters from close range. It was a deserved equaliser for the Bees, who had begun asking far more questions of the opposition backline. The visiting attack registered 14 attempts over the course of the afternoon, though Hull goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis was rarely stretched into making exceptional saves despite that volume of shots.
Conceding the equaliser seemed to wake Hull up, and they created the better chances to secure a victory during the final stages. Mohamed Belloumi displayed clever footwork inside the penalty box to fashion space for himself, only to see his final effort find the side-netting instead of the target. Moments later, Mohamed-Ali Cho drove a low strike toward goal, but Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher reacted sharply to turn the ball away with his foot.
Late opportunities continued to fall to the home side as they searched for a decisive moment in front of their fans. Joe Gelhardt had a golden chance to secure all three points after being picked out by an accurate delivery in the middle of the box, but he could not direct his attempt on target and fired wide. Brentford managed to absorb that late pressure to ensure they did not leave empty-handed, leaving Hull frustrated by their own lack of composure in front of goal when the game was there to be won.
The result provides a measure of relief for the Tigers following an alarming performance away against Fulham in their previous fixture. In that previous match, the team failed to register a single shot on target and completed just 139 passes over the entire 90 minutes. While this showing was far more competitive and full of energy, Hull have now gone six matches without a victory after starting their Premier League return with two consecutive wins. They currently sit 10th in the standings and will be aware that turning draws into wins is vital to prevent getting pulled down into a relegation fight.
For Brentford, the outcome leaves them sitting sixth in the Premier League table, just four points outside the top four places. The Bees remain undefeated on their travels this season, though they have now drawn all four of their away matches. It also marked the very first time this campaign that Brentford failed to take the lead in a fixture. Even so, the London side continues a strong start to the season that has already produced impressive home victories over Tottenham and Chelsea. With the share of the spoils in Yorkshire, Hull keep their own unbeaten home record intact as Brentford remain without an away defeat.
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