Hull City 3-2 Oxford United, EFL Championship: Oli Mcburnie Leads Tigers To Thrilling Win

Oli McBurnie was described as a natural leader by Hull City boss Sergej Jakirovic after his 93rd-minute goal guided the Tigers to a dramatic 3-2 win over Oxford United on Sunday.

Both sides entered the game seeking their first wins of the Championship season, with Hull having drawn 0-0 at Coventry City on the opening day while Oxford lost 1-0 to Portsmouth.

Hull were twice pegged back in a thrilling first half, with Joe Gelhardt scoring a wonderful second-minute opener before Will Lankshear thumped home a ninth-minute equaliser.

Matt Crooks restored Hull's advantage in the 20th minute but Oxford swiftly levelled again, with Cameron Brannagan's long-range strike proving too hot for Ivor Pandur to handle.

However, it was third time lucky for Hull as McBurnie, who joined Hull from Las Palmas this summer, controlled Ryan Giles' cutback before slotting into the bottom-left corner to clinch victory.

"He already proved many times he can be the decision-maker," Hull boss Jakirovic told BBC Sport when asked about McBurnie's influence.

"He's very important for us because you see immediately on the training ground that he's a leader. The boys like him very much already. He's positive and this is important."

It was ultimately a deserved win for Hull, who had 19 shots to Oxford's 11 and amassed 2.01 expected goals (xG) to their opponents' 0.78, also enjoying a 74.5% possession share.

"I'm very happy with this first home win in an official game, of course. I think we entered the game excellently, very good," added Jakirovic.

"This is very good for our mentality that we believed until the end. We didn't change our style, we were very good in possession.

"It's not easy to break down the opponent because they almost always have eight or nine players behind the ball, and you need good combinations, good technique, first touches, and running in the spaces."

Hull host Blackburn Rovers in their third game of the Championship campaign next Saturday, while Oxford visit Birmingham City, who have four points from their first two fixtures.