 Sincere Hall and his Hull City Under-21 teammates produced a spirited performance in a narrow pre-season friendly defeat against Turkish Süper Lig side Fatih Karagümrük SK.
The young Tigers competed admirably against the top-flight club’s first team, equalizing through Olly Green early in the second half and almost snatching a draw with the last kick.
Green’s measured lofted pass inside the first 60 seconds almost sent Hall through on goal but the keeper was quick off his line to clear.
A first-time effort was swept over David Robson’s crossbar before Trialist A stung the Karagümrük keeper’s palms with a powerful right-footed drive from 20 yards in a lively opening eight minutes.
The Istanbul outfit finished seventh in the Süper Lig last season and rattled the underside of the crossbar on 24 minutes following a short corner.
The Black Red opened the scoring eight minutes before the break when Jack Leckie turned a pacy cross from the right through his own net from a few yards out.
Green, though, restored parity shortly after the restart as he capitalized on a dreadful pass out from the keeper to slot left-footed into the corner.
City held out until 11 minutes remaining when Adem Ljajic smashed a cut-back into the roof of the net from inside the area to restore Karagümrük’s lead.
The Tigers refused to go down lightly and so nearly leveled at the death when Trialist B clattered a back-post effort from Ajay Weston’s corner against the base of the upright.
“We went into the game knowing the challenge of playing a Turkish Süper Lig team and the lads did themselves proud,” said Conor Sellars, Lead Professional Development Phase Coach.
“They stuck to our beliefs and I said at the end of the game how proud I was of them.
“We only had three substitutions. Normally, you have 11 for the first pre-season game and field two teams. We saw lads going through their threshold and pushing themselves to the limit.
“We had more shots on target and our statistics showed it was a really good performance. It was less about the result and more about seeing the mentality of the players and the style of play.
“Playing against a men’s team, we could have got something from the game.”
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