(Credit: Imago)

Evan Shaw

Tue 21 April 2026 21:40, UK

Follow us on Google Discover

Leicester City were relegated from the Championship as they were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Hull City on Tuesday night.

The Foxes have endured a dismal season after their relegation from the Premier League last year, and they finally saw their fate sealed despite a brief second-half comeback at the King Power Stadium.

Liam Millar put the visitors ahead in the 18th minute after a glaring error from Leicester goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, before a Jordan James penalty and Luke Thomas’ close-range finish turned the game on its head within the space of two second-half minutes.

However, Gary Rowett’s side’s hopes were short-lived, as Ollie McBurnie lashed home in the 63rd minute to rubber-stamp their descent into League One for the first time since 2009.

It was always likely to be a high-stakes evening in the East Midlands, and with that in mind, Football Insider picks out three mistakes made by referee Thomas Kirk during the 90 minutes.

Lewie Coyle could easily have seen red

Lewie Coyle found himself in the spotlight in the 14th minute, when he dived into a heavy challenge on Bobby Decordova-Reid midway through the Hull half.

The Tigers’ captain slid to win the ball before it reached the Jamaica international, but his follow-through saw him plant his studs into the ankle of the Leicester forward.

Kirk waved play on, and the visitors broke up the pitch and almost created a chance, which left the Leicester supporters hugely frustrated, as they clearly felt that a free-kick should have been awarded.

It was the kind of challenge that would have drawn plenty of attention in the Premier League, and tackles of a similar nature have regularly resulted in red cards after a VAR review.

With that in mind, Coyle could certainly count himself lucky to have stayed on the pitch, or escaped without a yellow at the very least, as Kirk took a very favourable view of the incident.

Thomas Kirk gets penalty incident horribly wrong

Leicester got a lifeline early in the second half, when Kirk pointed to the penalty spot after Abdul Fatawu went to ground under a challenge from Lewis Koumas inside the box.

The man in the middle gave himself time to think before deciding to point to the spot, before Kirk pointed to the spot after his linesman flagged for a foul.

Jones stepped up and drilled the penalty into the bottom corner to get Leicester back on level terms, but they should never have been given the opportunity.

Fatawu appeared to move his leg towards Koumas as the ball came towards him, and it could certainly be argued that he initiated the minimal contact between the pair.

Hull manager Sergej Jakirovic was shown a yellow card for his protests on the touchline, before promptly being given his marching orders after continuing to protest after his team fell behind.

The Bosnian certainly had a case, as it appeared that Fatawu had gone to ground far too easily, and the referee fell for his dive.

Ryan Giles left frustrated after yellow card incident

Ryan Giles became the second man in Kirk’s book when he fouled Abdul Fatawu with the winger bearing down on the Hull goal during a counter-attack.

It was a challenge that was undoubtedly worthy of a yellow card, but the left-back was clearly frustrated by the way that Leicester’s break began.

John Lundstram jumped to recover the ball after the hosts cleared away a Hull free-kick to the edge of the box, and he was kicked by Oliver Skipp as he left the ground.

The midfielder miscontrolled the ball as a result, and Kirk opted to play the advantage rule, despite Leicester turning possession over just seconds later.

A fast break from the home team left Giles in a position where he felt that he had to commit a cynical foul to get his team off the hook, but Kirk should never have allowed it to reach that stage in the first place.