Hull vs Birmingham delayed as goals sawed for being too big

Hull City’s match with Birmingham City was delayed after it was discovered the goals were the wrong size with a saw needed to cut them down by two inches. The Championship fixture was scheduled to kick-off at 3pm but a problem with the goal posts came to light.

Kick-off had to be delayed by 20 minutes as the problem was fixed.

Hull City released a statement which read: “The match officials have informed the club that the goal posts need to be readjusted and HawkEye recalibrated before the match can start.”

Sky Sports announced that the problem was that the goals were too big with footage shown of officials measuring the corners of the posts.

The goals were then taken down and laid onto the side of the pitch where a handsaw was needed to cut them to the right measurements.

It’s the second time in just a few days that a Championship fixture has seen an issue with the goalposts.

Wigan’s match against Cardiff last week was also affected by the bizarre scenario.

Cardiff caretaker boss Mark Hudson explained that two members of his coaching staff spotted the crossbar his side were defending in the first half was two inches taller than the other.

FA rules state that crossbars must be no higher than eight feet tall, but the match went ahead seemingly with different-sized goals.

Referee James Bell reportedly told Hudson that it would take “two hours” to sort the issue.

And the problem caused bigger problems for hosts Wigan as Cardiff’s third goal went in off the underside of the taller crossbar.

Wigan boss Leam Richardson said: “It just summed our day up – if he’d had the free kick at the other end, it would have bounced off the crossbar and not into the goal.”

Both Hull and Birmingham are in need of a win to move away from the drop zone in the Championship.

After beating Coventy back in August, Hull have gone on to lose six of their last seven in the league.

Birmingham have been in better form of late and picked up an impressive 3-0 victory over Bristol City last week.

But Hull can leapfrog Birmingham to 18th in the table with a win at the MKM Stadium.