Striker Oli McBurnie feels Sunday’s performance against Brentford was much more like the Hull City fans have become accustomed to under Sergej Jakirovic.
The Tigers led Keith Andrews’ men 1-0 courtesy of McBurnie’s penalty midway through the first half, but were pegged back just after the hour when Dango Ouattara tapped in from close range.
Despite being held, City produced a much more impressive performance, and a huge improvement on the one we saw at Fulham last weekend, which led boss Jakirovic to slam it as the worst showing since he took charge.
McBurnie was hurt in a challenge that went unpunished by referee Rob Jones in the first half, which led to him coughing up blood at the interval, before coming out for the second period and playing on until he was replaced late in the game.
“I think that was a lot more like us,” McBurnie told Sky Sports. “I think last week was not really what we’re about, and we got punished for doing that. The message this week was just getting back to the basics, getting back to what we’re good at, and I think we showed that. Arguably, we could have come off with three points, so, yeah, much better and on to next week.
“It’s a bit windy, and the ball moved just as I was about to kick it, so I didn’t get a clean connection, but a goal’s a goal. Probably should have had a couple so far this year, but nice to get off the mark and hopefully they can get a few more now.”
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City have continually been written off by pundits, many before a ball was kicked, but with the Tigers sitting tenth in the Premier League with 10 points from their opening eight games, they’ve shown they can compete.
After facing Manchester United, Aston Villa, Everton and now Brentford, City remain unbeaten at the MKM Stadium with one win and three draws, ahead of Saturday’s crunch match with fellow newly-promoted Ipswich Town.
McBurnie believes City’s start to the campaign suggests that other clubs will be taking Sergej Jakirovic’s men seriously, and the Scotland forward says making the MKM Stadium something of a fortress is key to keeping that points tally ticking over.
“I think we’re past that now,” he said of City, causing a surprise. “People are taking us seriously as a team in the Premier League, and we just want to show that we can compete at this level, and one way that we’re gonna do that is by making this a very difficult place for teams to come and making sure that we have a very good home record. It’s something we spoke about and something that we’re gonna try and keep on doing.”
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