 Sincere Hall and his Hull City Under-21 teammates suffered a late and narrow defeat in their first domestic friendly, losing 2-1 away at Scarborough Athletic.
Despite Trialist B netting for the Tigers, goals from Alex Purver and a trialist saw the National League North side record the win.
The first chance of the game fell to Scarborough as Lewis Maloney took aim from distance, with his dipping drive hitting the top of the crossbar. His fellow midfield partner Purver also tried an effort from range, but his attempt flew over.
On 24 minutes, Maloney almost punished the Tigers as he dispossessed Trialist A high up the pitch. With Owen Foster off his line, the Scarborough midfielder lobbed the goalkeeper, but saw his finish slowly roll wide of the post.
Trialist A for City then saw his shot blocked by a crowd of Scarborough players before Owen Foster produced a great save with his feet to deny Kieran Weledji at the other end. However a minute later, Scarborough took the lead as the hosts won the ball high up the pitch before Purver rounded Foster to fire into an empty net.
The Tigers searched for an equalizer before the half-time whistle as Trialist B fed the ball through for Hall. The Bermuda international in-turn squared the ball across for Jim Simms, but the striker’s left-footed finish was deflected behind off Bailey Gooda.
The second-half saw the Tigers make seven substitutions at half-time, which saw eight trialists start and first-year professional Kyle Fanning handed the captain’s armband.
Trialist E for City saw his effort blocked by Scarborough while Jake Charles saw his shot saved by Trialist C in the City goal.
Three minutes later, the Tigers equalised. Trialist E won the ball on the left wing before playing it into Trialist G. He in-turn passed it to the feet of Trialist B to place his finish into the bottom corner, past the dive of former Hull City Academy goalkeeper Joe Cracknell.
Past the hour mark, Trialist H for City played the ball in Trialist G, but his finish was held by Cracknell before Trialist D denied a Scarborough trialist at the other end, sliding in to block the shot.
With 10 minutes left to play, four Hull trialists linked up to create a great goalscoring chance. Trialists F and E played a neat one-two before the latter played the ball towards the right for Trialist H. He whipped in a great cross for Trialist G, but the striker could not divert his header goalwards.
Trialist H then went for the goal himself moments later, with the effort unable to be diverted goalwards. Nathan Tinsdale saw his rebound closed down before Trialist H found Trialist E with a dangerous delivery, but the headed finish went wide.
In the other goal, Trialist C produced a stunning point-blank save to deny a Scarborough trialist at his near post, with some calls for a penalty for both teams within a matter of minutes both being waved away.
With three minutes to go, Scarborough recorded the win as a trialist received the ball on the right wing and curled an unstoppable finish into the far top corner.
“It was a good test to come up against a National League North side who have already played three or four games in pre-season,” said Conor Sellars, Lead Professional Development Phase Coach.
“It was a good test to see how the lads would adapt. It was only their second game this season and we had eight trialists involved so it was a good opportunity to see them and see what they were about too.
“I felt with the style of play, we used it to open spaces, but we just didn’t have the final ball that we needed, but it is pre-season and it is building blocks for the start of the new season.”
“It is all about learning and competing against men is a good experience for the team.”
|
