Pressure cranked up on Tim Walter as Hull City beaten by West Brom

A disastrous opening left Hull City with an uphill battle and one they were unable to overcome as their winless run was extended to seven games with a 2-1 home defeat to West Brom, who themselves won for the first time in nine outings.

If under-fire boss Tim Walter hoped for a fast start to get his fans back on side, albeit temporarily, conceding twice to Albion inside the opening 20 minutes was hardly the way to go about it. The manner of the two goals will not have helped his cause; both sloppy goals afforded to Karlan Grant and Josh Maja.

City should have been three down but Maja missed a golden chance and that gave Walter's side the chance to get back in the game late on in the first period when Joao Pedro fired in a terrific header from Charlie Hughes' cross, but the Tigers were unable to find an equaliser, so succumbed to another defeat, another home game without victory and the pressure increased on the head coach going into the international break, with his side still outside the bottom three on goal difference after just three wins in the opening 15 games.

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Walter made three changes to the side beaten at Oxford United on Tuesday night with Mohamed Belloumi stricken by his ACL injury while Kasey Palmer and Ryan Giles were dropped to the bench. Back into the starting XI came Cody Drameh, Gustavo Puerta and Mason Burstow, while there were returns to the bench for Ryan Longman, Dogukan Sinik and Matty Jacob. Will Jarvis was left out of the squad altogether and Abu Kamara missed it through the injury he picked up against Portsmouth last weekend.

It was a fairly tepid start from both sides, well, until the 12th minute when City afforded far too much space to Mikey Johnston, and he fed Karlan Grant to crash in at the near post via a fairly hefty deflection which saw it fizz up and beyond Pandur at his near post - incidentally, Grant's seventh career goal against the Tigers.

City, for a moment at least, responded well, with Simons crashing an effort against the underside of the bar, but moments later, the Baggies were down the other end to double their lead. Darnell Furlong was afforded so much space to head back across goal to the unmarked Josh Maja to nod in from close range.

Not even 20 minutes on the clock and City were two down and their own fans, who had been quiet to that point, were turning on their manager.

The Tigers forced a flurry of pressure late in the first half with Pedro heading wide and then Coyle seeing a driven effort block as it fizzed towards goal, while Omur wanted a penalty after seeing his shirt tugged inside the box.

Albion should have made it three when City fluffed up the chance of clearing but from a tight angle, Maja couldn't finish after Jones did well to recover, and that miss proved costly because, within a couple of minutes, the Tigers hauled themselves back into the game just before the break when Pedro powered in a header from Hughes' cross off the right to give them hope going into the second period.

That second half started with Burstow dragging a shot low at Palmer from the edge of the box and then Coyle swinging over a right-sided cross which almost caught out goalkeeper Palmer at his back post.

Corberan made a double change after just 53 minutes, with Maja and Fellows replaced by Diangana and Lewis Dobbin after 53 minutes, moments before Callum Styles became the second Baggies player booked for a late challenge after skipper Furlong in the first half.

City should have been level just before the hour when Omur stole possession outside the box, clipped over a cross from the left where Slater was running onto it, and headed over the bar from close range, his frustration evident as he kicked the base of Palmer's post.

Omur was booked with Albion looking for a rare foray into City's half and then Corberan made another change with Uros Racic coming on for Mowatt, and he had an instant impact with an overhead kick which Pandur needed to be alert to tip over.

Just over 20 minutes were left when Ryan Longman was given his first taste of Championship action this season after recovering from shoulder surgery, replacing Burstow, and he almost fashioned a chance for Pedro, but he couldn't get on the end of a teasing ball through the box.

Corberan made town more changes with just over 10 minutes to go, with Grant replaced by Jed Wallace and Ousmane Diakite on for Johnston and Walter changed it with Kasey Palmer replacing Simons, who had put in a good shift, while Chris Bedia came on with a minute left in a bid to cause havoc. Pedro headed over and that was that, the Tigers beaten again and booed off.

City may shown promising signs, again, at times, but it's hard not to look head first into the reality that this is now shaping up to be a relegation battle for the Tigers. Their form suggests that, and for all the talk of looking up the table, the state of things at the moments after 15 games shows they could be in for a long winter, unless there is a change in manager, quickly.

City: Pandur, Drameh, Jones, Hughes, Coyle (c), Simons, Slater, Puerta, Omur, Burstow, Pedro. Subs: Racioppi, Giles, McLoughlin, Bedia, Sinik. Longman, Burns, Jacob, Palmer

West Brom: Palmer, Furlong, Holgate, Heggem, Styles; Molumby, Mowatt; Fellows, Johnston, Grant; Maja. Subs: Wildsmith, Nelson, Diakite, Racic, Swift, Diangana, Wallace, Dobbin, Cole

Referee: Andrew Kitchen

Attendance: 20,538