Hull boss Tim Walter said he was facing the toughest spell of his managerial career after a 2-0 defeat at home to Sheffield Wednesday made it nine Sky Bet Championship games without a win.
The Tigers were second best for much of this contest at the MKM Stadium, where a sizeable number of home supporters could be heard chanting “we want Walter out” during the second half.
Josh Windass opened the scoring with a penalty – the first spot-kick Wednesday had been awarded since May 2023 – before Michael Smith sealed the points late on as Danny Rohl’s side climbed into the top half of the table.
Asked if this was the toughest time he had faced as a manager, the former Stuttgart and Hamburg boss said: “For sure – you are in a new country and then it’s really different. I never lost that many games.
“I can understand the frustration; I’m frustrated myself but I’m tough enough to fight my way back.
“We had the biggest chances in the game – (Xavier Simons) hit the post, Regan (Slater) hit the goalkeeper.
“And then it’s human because we knew this situation from the games before and heads went down, we got a penalty against us.
“They dropped back and then it’s hard to play against, you have to create and be more precise.”
Wednesday dominated the early exchanges but Hull should have gone ahead after 30 minutes when Palmer found Slater unmarked six yards out but his low effort was kept out by James Beadle.
The Owls went in front after 37 minutes. Charles went down in the box under a challenge from Joao Pedro after the hosts missed several opportunities to clear their lines and Windass, son of former Hull favourite Dean, converted Wednesday’s first penalty since the final day of the 2022-23 season.
Simons saw his low shot brilliantly turned onto the post by Beadle as Wednesday preserved their lead until half-time.
The second half proved a tepid affair and Smith killed the game off nine minutes from time when he converted Anthony Musaba’s knock-back.
Owls boss Danny Rohl said: “I think it’s a deserved win, after 20 minutes we have to lead three or four-nil; we made a lot of chances. We did well today.
“For me it was clear we need a second goal.
“We created three, four more good opportunities that we have to score. We had 10, 11 chances we have to score today.
“Today it was enough to win this game, but in the future in some games you miss some opportunities, it might not be.”
On Walter’s predicament, Rohl added: “I feel for him, I wish he can turn it around.”
