City held off a late Blades’ surge to seal a third home win of the campaign
Ivor Pandur admits the opening weeks of the Championship have been tough, but hopes the future will be a little brighter at Hull City after keeping a first clean sheet since the opening day.
Saturday’s 1-0 win over Sheffield United at the MKM Stadium, courtesy of David Akintola’s goal, ensured City went into the international break in good spirits, with Pandur saving an 87th-minute penalty from Harrison Burrows to preserve their precious victory and his clean sheet.
The Croatian goalkeeper had conceded 16 goals in the eight games since that shut-out at Coventry City, and keeping a clean sheet was a significant step forward, according to boss Sergej Jakirovic, who felt it would be a big boost for the 25-year-old and the defence in front of him.
Pandur had come in for criticism for his early-season performances amid speculation about his future during the transfer window, and made a big error for Preston North End’s second goal on Tuesday night, before making up for that error to deny United from the spot and praising goalkeeping coach Erbil Bozkurt.
“My goalie coach knows; he tells me every time where to go, so all praise to him, really, he guessed it right. I went that way and yeah, I guessed it,” he told Sky Sports.
“It (the victory)means a lot. It was a tough period for me, obviously, since the start of the season, and hopefully it will be much better now going on, and we want to keep winning, to keep clean sheets, and that’s all.”
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