Blues 29-game unbeaten record at St. Andrew’s in the league has come crashing down.
Hull City, 3-2 winners, become the first side to defeat Blues on home soil since April, 2024 in the Championship or League One.
Here’s how it happened and all the key moments from an incident-packed, controversial afternoon.
11 minutes – From their first real attack, Hull take the lead. The ball rebounds off a covering Jack Robinson’s legs and into the net. Kyle Joseph nudges it past the ‘keeper and the ball is not going in until the fateful intervention.
22 – Keshi Anderson seems to be bundled over over on the right side of the box by Charlie Hughes as he reaches a bouncing ball, but no penalty.
Blues respond well to going behind. With Tomoki Iwata moving into midfield at will from right-back, Anderson, Patrick Roberts causing problems and Marc Leonard influential, Hull are hanging on.
27 – Roberts dribbles across the face of the area and finds Paik Seung-ho. His fierce shot is parried and Jay Stansfield sticks away the loose ball making it 1-1.
Leonard, Iwata and Demarai Gray all have goalbound efforts blocked.
42 – An awful, clamping tackle from behind on Roberts as he is in full flow in front of the technical area leaves him writhing in agony on the turf. Referee Ruebyn Ricardo inexplicably allows play to continue and Chris Davies and Blues are incensed. Leonard immediately takes out retribution on the offender Joseph with two meaty tackles, the second of which flattens him. It sparks a ruckus. Players from both sides square up and managers, coaches and security staff spill onto the playing surface. Stansfield is booked for his part in the melee as is Joe Gelhardt. Yellow cards are shown to Hull manager Sergej Jakirovic, who is restrained by security, stewards and various Hull personnel, and towards the Blues bench – presumably to Davies, although Tom Huddlestone is in front of the referee when it is eventually brandished as the throng of bodies slowly dissipates.
45+4 – Ivor Pandur gets down to keep out a drive by Gray.
45+4 – Hull work an overlap down the right and Lewie Coyle’s cross is sent past James Beadle by Regan Slater’s spearing header from 12 yards. The visitors regain the lead.
HT – Hull bring on Matt Crooks for David Akintola.
54 – Alex Cochrane’s searing drive is tipped away by Pandur.
54 – Hull break from a Blues corner and Beadle comes charging out and clatters high into Gelhardt’s legs, stopping a threatening attack. He receives a yellow card.
58 – Leonard shoots high and wide after a Blues corner but is adamant the ball takes a deflection as the referee signals goal kick.
59 – Robinson leads Blues complaints about the decision and is yellow carded. He says something else that stops the referee dead in his tracks to produce the red card – sending-off.
Tommy Doyle and Lewis Koumas are readying to come on. Because of the dismissal, Doyle and Kyogo enter the fray instead.
68 – Crooks goes into the book for a bad foul.
Blues continue to take the game to Hull; various pot-shots are made at goal and Pandur claws away one heading for the top corner by Gray.
80 – Kyogo swivels to get by two defenders into the box but hurriedly punts a shot horribly wide.
82 – Hull spring on the break and Beadle saves well from a low Gelhardt shot inside the area.
83 – Stansfield is taken down when trying to sprint away on the left; referee Ricardo mistakenly books John Egan when Crooks – who is on a yellow card – checks the striker to bring him over.
Koumas and Lyndon Dykes come on. Blues now have Koumas at left-back, Christoph Klarer and Iwata at centre-half and Gray right-back. They continue to go for it.
85 – Koumas fires into the side netting on the full, after a corner is cleared.
88 – As Blues gamble, Hull are again quick to raid when possession is won; Cody Drameh cracks a powerful shot high off the near upright following a swift break.
90+1 – Astonishingly, Beadle, up for a corner, heads over a great chance storming into the six-yard box at the back post after Iwata flicks on a corner.
90+3 – Another Hull breakaway and this time Liam Millar works the ball for Gelhardt to stick a left-footer past Beadle at the near post. Hull are 3-1 up.
90+6 – Blues keep going and Dykes is pushed then sandwiched by two defenders when contesting a long ball forward – penalty. Stansfield slots it home, to the left of the ‘keeper. It’s Blues 2, Hull 3.
90+10 – The final whistle, and 10-man Blues reflect on a damaging defeat. Jakirovic immediately walks straight down the touchline towards the tunnel, completely ignoring Davies as the Blues boss moves towards him.
Blues issue a statement refuting Jakirovic’s allegation in his post-match press conference that Davies swore at him and a member of the security team told him to ‘go back to Croatia’ during the incident just before half-time.
During his post-match media briefing, Davies says that Robinson’s lack of discipline proved costly.
“I’m very disappointed to lose at home in the league for the first time. We were fairly strong in our attacking game in the first half, I thought we looked more dynamic and I wanted us to be a bit more fluid in our attack and have a bit more threat on their goal.
“There was a lot of that there and again, the two occasions they really got near our goal they scored. We were 2-1 down against the run of play really with very sloppy moments from us in a defensive sense, but if I looked at the half objectively we looked much the better team in terms of our threat.
“Despite being very frustrated about being 2-1 down, naturally it was a case of if we continue to play like that and tighten up on moments when they get near our box, then we’re going to go on and score the couple of goals we need to win this match.
“I was fairly confident in the second-half but to lose a player through that lack of discipline is pretty hard to take because it’s ultimately cost us the opportunity to push on.
“We went to 10 v 11 and I thought the players did well to generate the chances that they did. They couldn’t have done much more. We pushed right to the very end.
“Ultimately, I think that lack of discipline in a key moment has cost us.
“He’s apologised to his teammates for the incident and it’s not something I want from my players, our team, and it’s something that shouldn’t happen. In the end we’ve suffered the consequences of it.”
