City claimed a terrific three points on the road at the weekend and now face two big home games this week
Dean Holden is keen to see Hull City make the most of their impressive 3-2 victory at Birmingham City on Saturday, as the Tigers prepare to host Leicester City on Tuesday night.
The in-form Tigers claimed their first away victory of the campaign at St Andrew’s on Saturday courtesy ofa Kyle Joseph strike turned into his own net by Jack Robinson, before Regan Slater and Joe Gelhardt sealed a fine three points in the Second City.
The game was, however, marred by some signifcant talking points including a melee before half-time following a tackle involving Kyle Joseph and Blues’ Patrick Roberts.
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That sparked wild scenes, where it was alledged a member of the extensive home security contingent made offensive comments to Tigers boss Sergej Jakirovic, a claim the hosts later denied in a hastily put together statement barely an hour after a pulsating contest had come to an end.
Keen to focus on a fine away display against a side previously unbeaten in 29 home outings, Holden was full of praise for the way in which his side went about their task, and now wants City to add to that two-game winning run.
“First and foremost it was an excellent three points, fully deserved, probably not much has been made of that from all the sort of noise after the game, for us it’s about keeping the focus on that; an excellent away display, backed by an incredible away support who were with us toe-to-toe all throughout the game,” Holden told Hull Live on the eve of the clash against the Foxes.
“Even at half-time while we’re trying to deliver the messages, they (the fans) were right above us where we were stationed underneath (the stand) and Sergej was doing his bit in terms of getting the team organised for the second half, they were doing their bit on the concourse, and then we went out together in the second half, and delivered that result.
“So there was a lot to unpick, you’re right about the Championship advert (the game was a classic advert for the second-tier), on and off the pitch, we went toe-to-toe, and we came out on top.
“You see the incident, clear as day to me. Kyle (Joseph) makes a great recovery run, which is what we put on all the players, by the way, not just the wingers or the forwards, but we lose the ball, we have to recover quickly, every recovery runs a sprint.
“Kyle does, it’s a well timed tackle or he goes to the ground and then there’s a challenge that comes in, which is worthy of a red card as far as I’m concerned (from Jay Stansfield), it was, there was two of them.
“That came in on Kyle, and that obviously sparked the melee. There were security guards on the pitch and obviously there was people in our technical area and it was a bit of a mess to be honest with you.
“All I would say on that is the players came together and stood up for each other in the right way, which is what you have to show and then we’ve been calm enough to then go and play our game and score an excellent second goal. All three goals for different reasons were outstanding on Saturday, and what a header from Reegs (Regan Slater), it was.
“I mean, we won the first and second ball in that moment. Coyley (Lewie Coyle) on the outside, it’s a lovely little stand up and many people might not have noticed Oli getting across the front post, which again drags the first centre half.
“I think it was (Christoph) Klarer gets hold of him physically and he’s not in a position to then recover and Reegs times his run to perfection again, something we work a lot on in terms of when the ball’s in certain areas of the pitch, where do we want our eights, where do we want our wide players. Behind the game it was perfect, if it got headed out we were in for second balls and stopping transition, so all in all it was a great way to end what was a pretty mental first half.”
Slater’s goal was perfectly timed, coming just after a lengthy stoppage where both sets of players and benches were involved in some unsavoury scenes, though Holden felt it was all avoidable.
“It’s an emotional game, ” he continued. “I mean I’ve been there myself many times. In the Championship in particular, emotions are running high, stress levels can be off the scale and the managers come under pressure don’t they? It’s a high pressure job, it was a nonsense as far as I’m concerned.
“I think we were in our technical area. It was heavy handed in terms of the security, in terms of what we were sort of up against, and we just stood toe-to-toe. No one (at City) was out of order, no went above the law, we stood up for our players on the pitch, which is what’s expected within the rules, and the security involved; how long did it go on for? I mean it was three or four minutes. That’s the longest I’ve ever seen.
“It’s not like rugby where everyone starts throwing a few punches, not that you want that, by the way, you don’t want that, but it’s just all about handbags and people are trying to show how hard they are and get hold of people, just play the game.
“We’re here to win a game of football. We’ve come here for three points against the team who had an incredible home record. We knew it’d be a tough game because of the success that they had last season and Chris (Davies), I’ve got a huge amount of respect for. I’ve known Chris a long time. He rang me last summer before he signed Alfie May. I’d signed Alfie for Charlton and he wanted a bit of reference, etc.
“We knew we’d have to be right on our game to come away with the points and there’s different ways to win a game. All we’re interested in is that we went there and backed up a great win against Sheffield United, back to back wins now which is, hopefully people will stop talking about that, and we can push on.”
You can watch an interview with City’s assistant boss right here or listen to the full interview in the latest episode of the 1904 Club podcast
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