Hull preserved their unbeaten home record since returning to the Premier League as Mohamed Belloumi’s late equaliser secured a 2-2 draw with Everton at the MKM Stadium on Sunday.
Everton thought they had taken the lead in the 34th minute when Brennan Johnson fired the ball in after Konstantinos Tzolakis had gathered a Thierno Barry shot only for the ball to roll from his hands. A lengthy video assistant referee check followed, and the winger was deemed to be offside, denying him a first Premier League goal for the Toffees and sending the sides in goalless at the break.
The visitors had already been made to work. Hull were slow out of the blocks but produced a forward burst that saw Oli McBurnie and then Lewie Coyle threaten before being thwarted, while Joe Gelhardt’s 22nd-minute run down the right ended with a shot comfortably collected by Jordan Pickford. Shortly afterwards Matt Crooks got his head to a corner, only for James Tarkowski to clear, and Gelhardt and Nobel Mendy both went close to breaking the deadlock before the interval.
Hull needed little time after the restart to get the goal their pressure deserved. Sorba Thomas capitalised on a mistake by Ainsley Maitland-Niles and fed Gelhardt, who coolly nudged the ball beyond Pickford in the 48th minute. Everton’s response was rapid, and Maitland-Niles atoned for his slip-up by finding Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who headed home in the 55th minute.
Barry, who had been left to ponder two earlier missed chances, then redeemed himself by pouncing to lash the ball beyond Tzolakis and put the visitors ahead for the first time in the match midway through the second period. Hull had made several changes by then, and two of them combined to restore parity: Elliot Stroud and Belloumi linked up, with the substitute getting his left-footed shot past Pickford in the 74th minute to secure a point.
The result extends an unexpected strong start to life back in the top flight for the Tigers, whose only defeat came in their final fixture before the international break at the hands of Newcastle.