City’s six-game unbeaten run was ended at Pride Park
Hull City head coach Sergej Jakirovic admitted he felt sorry for his players after seeing them throw away a point at Derby County on Tuesday night, losing 2-1.
City battled back from a goal down in the first half when Carlton Morris rose above Semi Ajayi to head in midway through the first half, with Joel Ndala netting his first Championship goal early in the second.
The Tigers looked to be favourites to go on and win the contest until Lars-Jorgen Salvesen turned the ball into an empty net after an error from Ivor Pandur, something he says was avoidable with better communication.
Jakirovic felt Ajayi was fouled by Morris, who clambered all over the Nigerian international to head in the opener amid a tepid first half, though he said his side were much better in the second period after failing to threaten in the first, aside from Matt Crooks hitting the bar with a fierce drive.
“In the end, it’s a little bit disappointing because I think that we played very, very well, especially in the second half. We were much better. We controlled everything,” the Croatian told Hull Live.
“We controlled everything, especially when we equalised to make it 1-1. In the first half, we didn’t create so much, but neither did Derby. A lot of long balls, a lot of challenges, duels, first and second balls.
“We had Crooky hit the crossbar, and then we made a mistake for the corner. Morris scored fantastically with the header, and then in the dressing room at half-time, we tried to still believe that we could maybe score one or two goals. After this equalising goal, we started to play better, especially in our possession. A lot of movement, a lot of mobility because they play man-to-man all over the pitch. We didn’t score a second goal, and then one mistake, but this is football.
“Especially with the goalkeeper, and when you do make a mistake, mostly it’s a goal, so congratulations to Derby on the victory. We’re still looking forward.”
The calamitous winning goal came seven minutes from time when Pandur slipped, making a routine clearance, and played it straight to the Rams man, who had only been on the pitch a few seconds, to slot into an empty net.
“In my opinion, Semi needs to play a back pass,” Jakirovic said. “Ivor must stay in his box because Semi is closer to the ball. This is a misunderstanding. This football, and he tried to clear the ball, but he missed, and the guy who entered, I don’t know, 10 seconds before, he scored. Great, great night for him.”
Jakirovic felt Morris was too aggressive in jumping on the back of Ajayi to power in the opening goal, but says it’s part and parcel of the game.
“For me, it’s a foul because by the UEFA rules, not by the England rules, it’s a foul. They told me ‘Welcome to England’, but if I grab you with two hands, throw you and try to catch this ball, it can be a foul. But in England, this is not foul, and they know that, so I respect the referee’s decision, and this is something that we need to deal with.
“I’m very sorry for the lads because they put, I think, a lot of energy into this game, especially after Saturday. There is not too much time to recover, especially because we are short in our squad, but OK.”
Here at Hull Live , we are dedicated to bringing you the best Hull City coverage and analysis. Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest City news by joining our free WhatsApp group.
You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe. You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service.
Click here to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.