Fleetwood Town narrowly lost out to Hull City in their 2-0 defeat in the first-round of the Emirates FA Cup at the KCOM Stadium on Saturday.
Josh Magennis broke the deadlock on the half-hour mark when he found the back of the net inside the penalty area before Reece Burke’s header doubled Hull’s lead midway through the second half.
Joey Barton was forced into a change just four minutes into the game when Ched Evans went down after a challenge with Callum Elder. He was replaced by Wes Burns after leaving the field on a stretcher.
The first chance of the game then fell to the home side when James Scott got on the end of Magennis’s driven cross but his header found the gloves of Jayson Leutwiler.
Soon after Magennis found himself with a chance of his own when he received the ball on the end of the area. However, he saw his shot blocked by the onrushing Fleetwood defence.
Fleetwood then grew into the game and started to control possession with Paul Coutts and Glenn Whelan dictating the play in the middle of the park. Burns and full-back Tom Edwards have passed the ball well down the right-hand side on multiple occasions, but no clear chances have been made.
Just after the half-hour mark, the Tigers broke the deadlock when Emmanuel found space on the right flank. His cross into the penalty area was flicked on by Mallik Wilks and poked home by an unmarked Magennis.
The hosts had the chance to double their lead when Magennis got on the end of Elder’s inswinging corner. However, the striker was unable to add to his tally and could only watch his header fly over the crossbar.
Contact between Elder, Harvey Saunders and George Long led to the Fleetwood forward leaving the field on a stretcher as the first half came to a close. It was a promising move for Fleetwood who had a chance on goal before the challenge was made.
In the second half, Fleetwood looked to have levelled the score when Josh Morris got in behind the Hull defence and squared the ball to Paddy Madden who placed the ball into an open goal. However, the linesman’s flag was raised on the far side of the pitch ruling out the goal.
Fleetwood were looking the better side in the second half and were threatening going forward. Wave after wave of attacks down the left-hand side through Danny Andrew were piling pressure on the Hull City defence.
Against the run of play, The Tigers had a chance to double their lead and Burke took it. The centre back got on the end of Elder’s corner and powered his header past Leutwiler.
Fleetwood responded well and almost found a way through when Coutts picked up the ball in the centre of the park. His ball over the top found Madden who’s shot was quickly closed down by Emmanuel – Harrison Holgate came close at the near post from the resulting corner.
At the other end, Hull troubled again from another set-piece when Reagan Slater crossed the ball into towards Burke whose headed effort flew just wide of the post.
The last chance of the game fell to Fleetwood as a corner was whipped in from the left, towards Holgate at the near post, but his header was put behind by Emmanuel.
Fleetwood XI: Leutwiler (GK), Edwards (Finley 64), Andrew, Connolly, Whelan, (Burns 4), Camps, Coutts (C), Madden, Saunders (J.Morris 46), Holgate
Unused subs: Cairns (GK), Duffy, McKay, Boyes
Hull XI: Long (GK), Elder, Burke, Smallwood (C), Wilks (Mayer 79), Honeyman (Slater 75), Scott, Emmanuel, Jones, Greaves, Magennis
Unused subs: Ingram (GK), De Wus, Batty, Eaves, Lewis-Potter