Jarvis strikes to find heaven in Hull

Hull City 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Phil Brown was left cursing some woeful and ultimately costly defending as Hull City squandered the lead twice to waste a golden opportunity to secure what would have been their first League victory in nine outings at the KC Stadium. Hull knew a win would be good enough to lift them out of the relegation zone and they seemed to be on course for the result they badly desired when Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink put them ahead in the 11th minute with his third goal of the season.

Whenever Hesselink has scored Hull have gone on to win, but Brown had not counted on the suicidal performance of his back four. Anthony Gardner sliced Ronald Zubar's tame cross over Boaz Myhill and into his own goal at the start of the second half to provide Wolver-hampton with their first League goal in more than four-and-a-half games. Yet Zubar was having a defensive nightmare of his own at the opposite end, and when he climbed all over Jozy Altidore three minutes later the referee, Mike Dean, had no option but to point to the penalty spot. Stephen Hunt, the player the Wolves manager, Mick McCarthy, has been so desperate to sign, dispatched it with ease to restore Hull's fragile advantage.

But it never looked like lasting, and when Gardner and his colleagues failed to clear their lines in the 67th minute Wolves were invited to attack. When the ball found Matt Jarvis unmarked at the back post the chance was too good to waste. He drilled a low shot beyond Myhill for his fifth goal of the season to earn the point that was of much more use to the visitors than it was to Hull.

McCarthy said afterwards: "I think we should have had three points, but it's one more to our total than we had yesterday so I can't complain too much. I'm delighted with the way we battled back, but we had a few chances towards the end and if we'd taken one of them we would have won.

"The game might have been rubbish, but we weren't. It's difficult when you go behind in the Premier League and you just have to try and stay in the game, which we managed to do."

Brown, whose side now face successive home games against Chelsea and Manchester City, said: "I thought we looked fairly comfortable in the first half. We got ourselves in front but went on to concede two sloppy goals and the individuals concerned will hold their hands up. We put our best foot forward when we had the ball but let them back into it. I think it was a fair result in the end but I'm still disappointed we have not won having been in the lead twice."

Attendance: 24,957

Referee: Mike Dean

Man of the match: Cairney

Match rating: 6/10