Portsmouth Vs Hull City: Matt Crooks’ late tap-in hands Tigers 1-0 win at Fratton Park
Matt Crooks’ intervention — a slide into an empty net after a defensive error — decided Portsmouth Vs Hull City, a match in which Portsmouth dominated possession and created a flurry of first-half chances but left Fratton Park empty-handed. The result matters because Hull preserved momentum in the automatic-promotion race while Portsmouth slipped further into a run of home frustration.
Portsmouth Vs Hull City: the decisive moment
The deadlock was broken in the second half when Adrian Segecic’s short back pass put Nicolas Schmid under pressure and the clearance only reached Matt Crooks, who connected to send the ball into an unguarded goal. The sequence followed an earlier near-miss when Oli McBurnie thought he had scored after Joe Gelhardt’s effort was saved, only for the flag to be raised for offside. That offside reprieve and the subsequent defensive lapse directly produced the only goal of the game.
Fratton Park and attendance 20, 228
The match at Fratton Park drew an attendance of 20, 228. Fans watched a game that opened with an early warning for Hull inside the first minute and then evolved into a sustained Portsmouth assault, yet finished with the visitors leaving the south coast with a 1-0 victory.
Pompey’s first-half dominance in possession and shots
Portsmouth controlled possession in the opening 45 minutes, registering roughly 69% of possession while producing a heavy volume of attempts on goal. Stat lines list Portsmouth with 69% possession and all 14 of the other shots in the half; separate tallies put their first-half attempts at 15. Despite that barrage — which included long-range efforts from Terry Devlin, a piledriver from Zak Swanson that was pushed away, and an acrobatic effort from Regan Poole that Ivor Pandur saved — Pompey failed to convert. Colby Bishop missed a number of opportunities, including a failed rebound finish and a close-range poke after a set-piece, and there were questions raised about whether a dragback on one play warranted a penalty. What makes this notable is the contrast between possession dominance and an inability to score, with Hull needing only a single clinical moment to claim three points.
Hull’s goalkeeper Ivor Pandur and defensive resilience
Hull’s Ivor Pandur was kept busy throughout, producing several crucial interventions: he pushed away Swanson’s 25-yard piledriver, made a sharp save from Regan Poole at close range after a Pompey corner, and dealt with long-range attempts and blocked efforts across the half. The Tigers had very few attempts themselves — one match account notes Hull managed only two shots — but their defensive and goalkeeping work preserved a slender lead once Crooks scored.
Promotion implications and a five-away-wins streak
The victory extended Hull’s run of away wins to five in a row, a sequence that matches a club mark last reached in 1966. The result leaves Hull three points behind second-placed Middlesbrough and keeps pressure on the top two in the automatic-promotion race. Hull now face what has been described as a potentially pivotal week with upcoming fixtures against Ipswich Town and Millwall; those matches will test whether the current momentum can be sustained.
John Mousinho, Pompey reaction and home form
Portsmouth boss John Mousinho and the home supporters were left to ponder another frustrating afternoon after Pompey again failed to find a leveller despite dominating possession and chances. The defeat was Portsmouth’s second consecutive home loss, a sequence that represents only the third instance of back-to-back home defeats since their return to the second tier. Mousinho and the fans were vocal in their disappointment as the team remained 19th, five points clear of the relegation zone.
Match details and commentary were last updated 28th February 2026 at 16: 33.
