Wayne Rooney’s Birmingham hear the boos in lacklustre defeat by Hull

Play forward, on the front foot, take risks, be brave; all the things trumpeted by Birmingham City’s top brass as reasons to be cheerful about a new, ambitious era led by Wayne Rooney and fronted by Tom Brady. All of those things were on show in Rooney’s first home game in charge, the only problem being those buzzwords were exhibited best not by Birmingham but Hull. Liam Delap and Jaden Philogene, two of the most exciting players in the Championship, got the goals, Philogene’s a peach from distance, killing the game.

After all the pre-match pyrotechnics and fireworks, Rooney’s rather understated entrance fell flat. His first visit to St Andrew’s, in 2002, ended with him being sent off for Everton, aged 17, for a lunge on Steve Vickers 15 minutes after entering and this proved another visit to largely forget, with away supporters basking in Birmingham’s pending defeat approaching full time.

“You’re getting sacked in the morning,” they rejoiced. Last weekend at Middlesbrough it was Michael Carrick, a former teammate, who he was up against and on the touchline here there was another familiar face in Hull’s Liam Rosenior, who was his assistant at Derby County, where a 21-point deduction put paid to their hopes of avoiding relegation to League One amid the threat of liquidation. The pair built a friendship in the face of adversity but after contending with endless off-field problems together here it was a case of contesting throw-ins metres apart.

Part of Birmingham’s method behind the widely perceived madness of sacking John Eustace with the club sixth in the table in favour of hiring Rooney, their chief executive Garry Cook said, was the promise of no-fear football. Cook conceded his comments, which perplexed supporters satisfied with Eustace’s work, were open to interpretation but made clear Rooney’s side intend to attack. “Playing safe can lead you to a place of mediocrity,” he said at Rooney’s unveiling.

Within 92 seconds there was evidence of Birmingham’s new-found mantra as they surged upfield at speed. The on-loan Fulham striker Jay Stansfield located Oliver Burke with a first-time cross while on the spin and Burke zipped the ball in from the right flank – also first time – but Siriki Dembélé could not apply the finishing touch from the edge of the six-yard box. Burke sent in another first-time cross a few minutes later, forcing the homegrown Hull captain, Lewie Coyle, to clear for a corner, but from there it was Hull who asked most of the questions.

The first half turned into a rather uncomfortable quizzing for Birmingham and Rooney, whose side were jeered off by a section of home supporters at the interval. Rooney swivelled in agony in his technical area as Delap feasted on a blind pass by the Birmingham left-back Emmanuel Longelo to earn Hull a 12th-minute lead and the locals grew increasingly restless as Hull pushed for a second goal. Philogene, the impressive England Under-21 winger signed from Aston Villa for about £5m in the summer, darted inside before sending a shot wide via a slight deflection. Rosenior also appealed for a penalty when Scott Twine fell in the box under goalkeeper John Ruddy’s challenge.

Birmingham began the second half with the same zest as they started the first, Juninho Bacuna seeing a shot blocked before a flurry of corners. But soon after, Dembélé gifted the visitors a chance to pour forward on the counter, his failure to trap the ball midway inside the Hull half after Birmingham committed numbers almost costly. Philogene dallied and saw his effort blocked and then an off-balance Delap, the striker on loan from Manchester City, skewed the rebound against the advertising hoardings. Rooney cussed as he retreated towards the home dugout but one of his assistants, Ashley Cole, offered those in blue shirts an earful.

Rooney acknowledged his first home game in charge, in front of his family and the Birmingham chairman, Tom Wagner, who flew in from the US for the match, would only be enjoyable if they won. Rooney has always said it how it is and after labelling his side’s display in defeat at Boro inadequate, it was hard to take much more encouragement from this disjointed performance. Ruddy repelled a couple of powerful Delap strikes and Adama Traoré swiped an effort wide. Birmingham spent much of the game on the back foot and struggled to test Ryan Allsop, the Hull goalkeeper.

Philogene, the best player on the pitch, in effect sealed victory when he darted inside off the left-wing, holding off Cody Drameh and bursting past the substitute Jordan James before locating the far corner of Ruddy’s goal.