Sergej Jakirovic will get his first taste of an MKM Stadium matchday on Tuesday night when he takes his seat in the dugout for the first time as Hull City head coach.
It may only be a friendly against Sunderand in front of what will be a small crowd, but it will be an important step forward for the Bosnian, who has impressed since taking charge of the Tigers.
City‘s 1-0 win at Stockport County was their fourth in a row, and they’ll take on the newly-promoted Black Cats, fresh from a 3-0 defeat at Tynecastle against Hearts on Saturday.
He will, however, want to see a follow-up of the second half performance against the Hatters, rather than the tepid, disorganised showing he saw in the first.
Jakirovic has cut a relaxed, positive figure this summer despite the chaos going on behind the scenes with the ongoing transfer troubles with the EFL, and he says the visit of Regis Le Bris’ side will provide them with the chance to assess their progress.
“Yes (big test), since coming back to England, of course,” the Bosnian said of the test the Wearsiders will pose. “It’s a very good test for us. It’s also good feedback to us on where we are now, and we will see.
“I’m looking forward to that because we will play the first time in the MKM Stadium, so we will play in front of our fans, and it will be interesting.”
While the penultimate game of their pre-season campaign is a chance to finetune things ahead of the season opener on Saturday week, Jakirovic’s primary objective will be to get through without any injuries, especially important given the lack of depth in his squad.
“I’m happy with every game, but we managers are always looking forward to when we start for real,” he continued. “It’s a friendly and I’m just hoping that nobody will get injured. This, for me, is the first thing. In the end, you can win the game, but it’s most important that we see our demands before the game actually happens in the game.”
Jakirovic also offered an apology to the 921 away supporters at Edgeley Park who sang for him to give them a wave throughout the contest. It took until a member of his coaching staff informed him, 80 minutes in, about what was being directed at him, and that drew a comical response from the head coach, who is already building a rapport with fans. “I’m very sorry because I didn’t hear what they were shouting, but in the end, it was very nice, thank you,” joked the effervescent boss.
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