Hull City goalkeeper George Long found himself getting through floods of work on Saturday lunchtime against a rampant Leeds United, with Grant McCann’s last line of defence saving his side from a far more humiliating scoreline on a tough afternoon.  

Right from the fifth minute Long’s goal was under attack; Pablo Hernandez’s raking pass found Luke Ayling in space 30 yards from goal, with the right-back afforded time to unleash a shot that took a heavy deflection beyond the Hull goalkeeper.

Hernandez rattled his crossbar moments later but Leeds’ true onslaught didn’t come until the second-half, when Long was called on to pull off save after save to keep things respectable for McCann’s struggling side.

Nevertheless, he was beaten by Hernandez on 47 minutes and then twice by Tyler Roberts in the closing stages, with Leeds leaving East Yorkshire with three points after rubbing Hull faces in an emphatic scoreline.

On the back of afternoons like Saturday, it isn’t often the suffering goalkeeper comes out with praise, but this weekend was a rare occasion when he deserved it. Long entered the game on the back of a big mistake in the costly midweek defeat to Barnsley, and after Ayling’s lucky strike beat him after five minutes, you might be forgiven for thinking his head would drop.

Ultimately that wasn’t the case, and despite Leeds forcing him to pick the ball out of his net on four occasions, it wasn’t a bad performance at all, as our graphic below shows:

In 90 minutes, Long faced nine shots on his goal, four of which resulted in goals for Leeds; Ayling beat him in the first-half, whilst Hernandez swept into his bottom corner on 47 minutes, with early goals in either half settling the contest.

Leeds looked to turn the screw after Hernandez doubled their lead, though, with Long forced to save multiple efforts from the likes of Helder Costa, Jack Harrison and Mateusz Klich. In total there were five saves from Long, with three reflex saves amongst that.

Hernandez and Harrison tested the goalkeeper’s woodwork with fierce drives, with Long left to look on helplessly as they rebounded out to be cleared by his defence, who were equally helpless in denying Leeds more chances.

A busy afternoon for Long also included two exits, where he had to deal with dangerous crosses into his penalty area that had him scrambling to concede corners.

Eventually, Roberts stepped off the bench to finish beyond him emphatically on 81 minutes after a brilliant Leeds move, with the substitute then looping a header back across Long three minutes later. The four goals were what Leeds’ performance deserved, with Hull left thanking the 26-year-old for preventing their goal difference taking an even bigger hit.

The electric start Leeds made – however fortunate Ayling’s goal was – was a warning to Hull that they were in the mood, with the scoreline threatening to get out of hand throughout the second-half. Long stood tall and did all he could to keep things respectable, with McCann’s goalkeeper at least able to leave the KCOM with his head held high on an afternoon where that wasn’t the case for a lot of the home squad.

Easier days at work will come, but an error that led to a 1-0 defeat to Barnsley doesn’t look to be playing on Long’s mind, which moving forward into a crucial period, has to be a positive.