Taylor shaken as Killen topples Hull

Oldham Athletic 1 Hull City

Easter has not been kind to Peter Taylor. Hull City relinquished the League One leadership after only 48 hours yesterday, Chris Killen's 13th goal of the season condemning Taylor's side to a first defeat in nine games and edging Oldham Athletic further from the relegation zone.

Easter has not been kind to Peter Taylor. Hull City relinquished the League One leadership after only 48 hours yesterday, Chris Killen's 13th goal of the season condemning Taylor's side to a first defeat in nine games and edging Oldham Athletic further from the relegation zone.

Hull may have lost the match but Tranmere's result meant they did not lose ground in pursuit of a second consecutive promotion. All the same, the result maintained a faltering sequence for Taylor, following the last-minute equaliser his England Under-21 side conceded on Friday and Hull's home draw with lowly Port Vale the next day.

The meeting of one club with a Premier League past and another with aspirations of joining the élite turned on two similar incidents midway through the second half. In the 66th minute, by which stage neither goalkeeper had made a save worth the name, Hull's Leon Cort rose to meet Nick Barmby's corner kick, only for the ball to strike the inside of Oldham's left post and roll along the line before being cleared.

Five minutes later, a free-kick by Neil Kilkenny swung into the Hull area from the Oldham left. Killen, a New Zealand international, met it with a glancing header which Boaz Myhill managed to touch on to his own left upright. This time, however, the ball did enter the net.

Taylor rang the changes in an attempt to retrieve a point, Hull having as many as five "strikers" in the closing stages. Yet they badly missed the 27-goal Stuart Elliott, who is away on Northern Ireland duty, added to which Oldham have developed a resilient streak under the temporary stewardship of Ronnie Moore. The former Rotherham manager has now overseen three wins and a draw in six games. At this rate the Oldham faithful will start calling him Moore-inho.

Taylor, whose Easter continues with an Under-21 match against Azerbaijan at Middlesbrough tonight, remained upbeat. "We'll bounce back," he said. "I'm positive we'll pick up as many points from the last few games as the teams behind us, and then we'll be up."

Oldham Athletic (4-4-2): Mildenhall; Holden, Owen, Stam, Tierney; Betsy, Haining (Hughes, 24), Kilkenny, Eyres; Beckett, Killen. Substitutes not used: Pogliacomi (gk), Bonner, Johnson, Vernon.

Hull City (4-4-2): Myhill; Joseph (Price, 74), Delaney, Cort, Edge; France, Ashbee, Lewis, Ellison (Wilbraham, 80); Fagan, Barmby (Walters, 68). Substitutes not used: Duke (gk), Hessenthaler.

Referee: M Atkinson (West Yorkshire).