The returning hero bagged an early goal as City kicked off their MKM Stadium campaign with a deserved victory
09:00, 19 Aug 2025
Joe Gelhardt opened the scoring against Oxford United on Sunday
Joe Gelhardt opened the scoring against Oxford United on Sunday(Image: Zach Forster/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Joe Gelhardt admits his second home debut for Hull City couldn't have gone any better after the forward netted in the dramatic 3-2 win over Oxford United.
The former Leeds United man returned to the club earlier this month and came off the bench in the opening day draw at Coventry City before playing in the League Cup exit at Wrexham last Tuesday night.
Against Gary Rowett's side, Gelhardt picked up Oli McBurnie's pass and drove into the box before slamming into the net inside two minutes to lift the roof off the MKM Stadium.
That set the tone for a pulsating encounter which saw City twice pegged back by Oxford before McBurnie struck the winning goal three minutes into added time. His late strike gave Sergej Jakirovic a first home win as Tigers boss.
"It was brilliant, it couldn't have gone any better," the 23-year-old told Hull Live. "It was the perfect start.
"The fans are brilliant and the manager gives us that free roam, he just says get at your defenders and shoot. That's what you want to hear as an attacking player, so that's exactly what I've done, and thankfully it went in."
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City twice conceded from long throws into their box early on as Oxford battled back, moments which left Jakirovic angry, but Gelhardt believes those errors can be easily eradicated.
"It was annoying conceding straight after we scored twice, but I think the goals that we did concede are easily fixable," he said. "Two set pieces or second balls if you like.
"We'll have a look at them and we can stop that at source next time and be tighter on the edge (of the box). It was me personally for the second one, so that won't happen again from my point of view, and I'm sure the lads will want to stop it as well. It was good to score the goals, but we need to try our best not to concede goals like that as well."
By the time Abu Kamara and Ryan Giles combined to feed McBurnie for the winner, Gelhardt had been withdrawn from the action, but the bench reaction was quite something.
"They're the best ones, so credit to Gilo, Abu and the link up and then great finish by Ol (McBurnie) and it was amazing," Gehardt continued, before going on to say Coventry's thumping 5-3 win at Derby County on Saturday shows what a good point it was on opening day.
"We want to make home games tough for the opponents. We want to make it feel like they're away from home and apply a lot of pressure with the noise of the fans. They were extremely loud, by the way.
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"It's a good start. A point away at Coventry is a good point and three points here, so I think we've had a good start to the season. Hopefully, we can keep it going.
"That just shows how defensively solid we were when we went there. There were times where we were under pressure and you're going to be in games like that, especially away from home against top quality teams like Coventry, so credit to the lads as I say, good point on the board and a good three points."
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