Following today’s clash between Hull City and Sheffield United, here are the instant reactions from both managers.
Hull City hosted Sheffield United at the KCOM Stadium for a 7.45pm kick off on Friday February 23, with the hosts taking a one nil victory to claim the three points against the current form guide.
The three points will be welcomed by struggling Hull as they edge a few more points away from the dropzone until Saturday’s fixtures, but with Sheffield United having hope of a Play Off run and chances of back to back promotions it will no doubt be a huge disappointment.
Few could say that Hull weren’t worthy of the win though.
The less said about the first half stoppage where home fans threw sponge balls on the pitch is probably for the better.
Teams:
Hull:
McGregor, Aina, Dawson, MacDonald, Clark, Larsson, Irvine, Bowen, Evandro (Stewart 78), Diomande (Grosicki 64), Dicko (Campbell 73).
Substitutes:
Hector, Toral, Marshall, Tomori.
Sheff Utd:
Blackman, Basham (Donaldson 81), Stearman, O’Connell, Baldock, Leonard (Duffy 63), Evans (Lundstram 74), Fleck, Stevens, Clarke, Sharp.
Substitutes:
Moore, Freeman, Lafferty, Evans.
Speaking to the BBC’s cameras a short time after match day referee Simon Hooper blew the final whistle, Hull city head coach Nigel Adkins explained.
‘It was another good performance from the players, with the whole group contributing. That’s seven undefeated now at home and the supporters played their role and got behind the team at important stages of the game. The players grafted their socks off and it was a well-deserved 1-0 victory.’
As for the protests on the night.
‘I was annoyed by the stoppage because I thought we were on top. Fortunately we kept going, but it could have gone the other way. We could have done without it but the protests are all done now and hopefully people can sit around the table and sort it out.’
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder in his comparative interview explained.
‘We didn’t deserve anything from the game and I’m wasting my time and energy thinking we’re going to get into the top six because to produce a performance like we have with everything at stake is not good enough, and won’t be good enough to get in the top six. I’ve told he players that. I thought we’d got ourselves back on track by winning two big games of football and thought we could go and win a third but we produced a flat performance from start to finish. Every part of our game was below the standards that we’ve set. We’ve not shown the qualities that are needed to get in the play-offs.’
