The Tigers boss was enthused by what he saw from his side at the end of a long week
Hull City boss Sergej Jakirovic hailed the work ethic in his side and said that there’s always somebody in the Tigers squad willing to deliver some magic
His comments come after he oversaw a 3-2 home win over Portsmouth on Saturday, which moved the Tigers up to fifth in the Championship going into the November international break.
Despite falling behind inside the opening 20 minutes, City roared back to lead 2-1 thanks to a full debut goal from Enis Destan and Kyle Joseph’s third goal of the season, only to be pegged back again before the break.
A stunning Charlie Hughes ball then picked out Joe Gelhardt, who executed a delightful finish to win the game 11 minutes shy of the 90 and seal a fifth home win of the season.
Jakirovic was quick to pick out the display from skipper Lewie Coyle, as well as Joseph and Destan, who fired in from Coyle’s cross.
“He brought (Destan) us a lot, especially covering the ball, winning duels. He is in the box. He scored a nice goal, and it’s not easy to score a goal like this. I’m very pleased with his performance today,” the Croatian told Hull Live.
“Lewie, the skipper, put a lot of energy into the game as well. There was a lot of great action on the right side. They are a team. Every time, somebody else will bring some magic, and we will score something.
“We decided it would be like this because I expected this, I expected a lot of long balls, a lot of air challenges, so that’s why we played like that, so that we would have more numbers in the box, especially when we are coming into the last third.”
With both strikers scoring and Gelhardt getting his seventh of a hugely productive season, Jakirovic says the confidence gained from both players will be huge.
Equally impressive was their respective work rates, with Coyle fighting to win a corner which Gelhardt teed up Joseph to score from, and then deep into added time, Joseph raced to close down Portsmouth goalkeeper Josef Bursik to stop him launching the ball into the Tigers box, which drew a roar from the home crowd as loud as when he headed in the second goal.
“Enis and Kyle both scored the goals, which is great for their confidence,” he continued. “I think Kyle, in every game, puts in a lot of energy with a very big effort, and he helps our team a lot.”
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