Hull City lost 2-1 at Bramall Lane after some frustrating referee calls in the final 15 minutes of the clash
Hull City boss Sergej Jakirovic on the Bramall Lane touchline
Sergej Jakirovic has given his take on a frustrating afternoon for Hull City as they surrendered a second half lead to lose 2-1.
The Tigers made such a strong start at Bramall Lane as Oli McBurnie scored his first goal in nine games to give them a lead with just five minutes on the clock.
City were good value for their lead and as the game progressed, they managed a combined total of 18 efforts at the Blades goal, with just four on target.
However, with 15 minutes on the clock, John Lundstram was shown a red card for a second bookable offence after lunging to bring down Andre Brooks.
With a man down, City couldn’t hang on, with a very controversial penalty giving the Blades the opportunity to level the scores, which Gustavo Hamer did. And, Danny Ings gave the home side the win late on.
Speaking on the game and the second half in general, Jakirovic said: “For me unbelievable because we were the better team.
“We took the lead through Oli McBurnie and we had great counter attacks, great bicycle kick from McBurnie cleared off the goal line and we were comfortable there, we didn’t feel any threats.
“Then second half I can split into two parts: the Lundstram second yellow because the reason why he gets the yellow is because the referee is in the way and he knows that. It’s a foul, completely a foul, but you don’t have to give a yellow because you are the reason why he was late on the ball.
“The penalty, I don’t know what happened there. From my position I saw six players on the ground. You can see this every game 10 penalties like this.
“Everything was finished after that because it’s not easy to manage your emotions because you know you were the better team, control everything and now we go home without anything. I think we deserve at least one point but until the sending off it was three points. If we play like this I don’t have any worries.”
On the melee with Mark McGuinness which saw Lundstram receive his first yellow, the head coach expressed further frustration.
“I don’t know why he got the yellow card,” he said. “This guy attacked him.
“If somebody attack you, you will stay down, ‘kick me one more time’, like the song Britney Spears, you have your reaction and you have your limits.”
Asked if he had managed to speak to the referee in order to get an explanation for the second half, the head coach added: “They don’t want to speak with you and this is a very big problem, for all the head coaches, not just for me. We have a pre-match meeting and every time they say we can ask the referee if we have any questions, but then you ask like I ask the wall, nothing.
“Imagine if you are in my place and you ask something, they ignore you. I don’t know what the purpose of the pre-match meeting was and if the captain is approaching you and ask what is your decision, they say ‘go away, penalty’.
“Man management, you have speak to the players because they are human beings. Not just my players, Sheffield United as well, no matter who is there. The teams and the players are important.”