Hull City Vs Derby County: Hull rally to win 4-2 at MKM Stadium as late Egan and Koumas strikes decide thriller

Hull ended a difficult run with a 4-2 victory over Derby in a breathless fixture, a result that matters for both clubs’ promotion ambitions. The match, played at the MKM Stadium on Tuesday night, produced four first-half goals and decisive late interventions from John Egan and substitute Lewis Koumas.

MKM Stadium: Four-goal first half sets the tone

The scoring burst began early when Hull took the lead after nine minutes when Callum Elder’s back glanced a corner from Amir Hadziahmetovic into his own net. Derby drew level shortly after when Craig Forsyth finished following a sequence that involved Lewis Travis and a spilled touch from Ivor Pandur; Forsyth’s strike was recorded around the 17th minute. Hull regained the lead when Oli McBurnie hammered home, his 13th goal of the campaign, after another mistake from Elder, who was later replaced at half-time.

Callum Elder errors and Joe Gelhardt interception led to McBurnie’s strike

A defensive error by Elder — a cross-field pass that Joe Gelhardt intercepted — set McBurnie up to capitalise and restore Hull’s advantage. That lead lasted only three minutes: Sammie Szmodics reacted to a deep delivery and found the net just before the interval to make it 2-2, leaving the game finely poised at half-time.

John Egan’s first goal since September turns the contest

After a tense start to the second half the deadlock was broken again in the 75th minute when John Egan completed a composed finish following a well-worked passing move by the home side. The goal, Egan’s first since September, put Hull 3-2 ahead and proved pivotal in changing the match balance.

Hull City Vs Derby County: Koumas off the bench to seal victory

Lewis Koumas came off the bench and quickly made an impact, sealing all three points for Hull. One description of the sequence notes Koumas struck two minutes after entering the field; another account places the finish about five minutes from time. Either way, Koumas’s finish ended the contest and allowed Hull to leapfrog Millwall into fourth place.

Injuries, officiating and managerial reactions

Hull lost Ryan Giles to a hamstring problem when he limped off, and the manager confirmed the player will be assessed after what looked like a recurrence of an earlier hamstring issue. The match also featured disciplinary and contentious moments: referee Adam Herczeg booked Patrick Agyemang early, and Hull’s manager raised concerns that Craig Forsyth’s equaliser had been scored from an offside position. That criticism extended to an assessment that the referee lost control at times in the second half, with both managers left frustrated.

Consequences for the promotion race and Derby’s form

The result keeps Hull within reach of the top two; they sit six points behind Middlesbrough, who occupy the automatic promotion positions. The win ended a three-game winless run for Hull and followed a weekend shock 3-1 defeat to QPR that had dented their hopes of automatic promotion. Derby’s recent slide continued: they have now lost three of their last four matches and are six points adrift of the play-off places after back-to-back defeats, having been beaten by Watford the previous weekend.

Managers on both sides reflected on effort and missed opportunities. Hull’s boss praised his players for a pragmatic, aggressive display shaped by the pitch condition, saying the team prioritised taking three points above all. Derby’s manager said he was disappointed but insisted his side created “unbelievable chances” and might have scored far more on another night; Patrick Agyemang’s direct running had been a consistent threat and he provided the cross for Szmodics’s equaliser.

What makes this notable is how individual errors and quick responses — Elder’s early involvement in two key moments, Pandur’s parry leading to Forsyth’s chance, and the substitutes’ immediate impact — combined to tilt a tightly contested match. The victory delivered measurable effects: Hull moved up the table into a play-off berth while Derby’s push for promotion faces fresh pressure.