Tyler Smith's golden touch vs Brighton as Malaga clues offered in Hull City win

After a long, hard week of training in the Marbella sunshine, Hull City’s players got their first taste of action.

The Tigers in the first of two games on Saturday, beat Brighton and Hove Albion’s Under-23 side 2-1 thanks to a second half brace from Tyler Smith before the Premier League’s second string pulled a late one back.

A mixture of first-team regulars and youngsters made up Shota Arveladze’s XI for the morning clash, before the second group take to the field against Malaga on Saturday night in front of a crowd.

Strikers feed off goals. No matter whether it’s in training games or in league matches, it’s hugely important for them to find some rhythm and confidence.

Having missed a sitter in the first half - albeit when the flag went up - Smith would have been feeling frustrated at passing up the opportunity to impress in front of Arveladze.

To his credit, Smith stuck at it and kept plugging away in the second half and his first goal was simple in it’s construction, but he was in the right place at the right time and that’s key to being a decent striker.

His second came after a lovely through ball from Jevon Mills, he raced away shrugging off the defender, before cutting inside and applying a calm finish beyond the on-rushing goalkeeper.

The winger has looked good throughout the week and to have got a 90-minute run-out under his belt will have been a big boost for him.

Having been out for the best part of five or six months, Williams being back is a big boost to Arveladze, and his performance here gave further glimpses of his potential.

Williams has something a little different from what City has, he’s pacey, direct, and is keen to take a player on and go beyond and get to the byline.

While there’s still a