City were 1-0 winners over the Baggies in their final outing before Christmas
Sergej Jakirovic hailed Hull City’s miracle after Oli McBurnie’s 10th goal of the season earned a professional 1-0 win over West Brom.
McBurnie’s goal deep into added time from the penalty spot at the end of the first half was enough to seal a seventh home win in their final MKM Stadium outing of 2025.
Their cause was aided late on when Alfie Gilchrist came off the bench, before being sent off for a challenge on Liam Millar.
The victory, their third on the spin since losing to Middlesbrough, saw the Tigers take advantage of dropped points elsewhere to move up to fourth in the table, which is where they’ll spend Christmas.
“Congratulations to the lads,” the Croatian told Hull Live. “It was a typical Championship game, hundreds of long balls, hundreds of air challenges, duels and so on. I think that we started well in the game, but after around 15 minutes, we lost our balance.
“Maybe because we played with two strikers, then they have a numerical advantage in the midfield, but also it’s West Brom’s quality. They broke our pressing. We tried to press the ball, especially on the sides, when their full-backs had the ball.”
Albion should have scored through Isaac Price when he blazed over from close range, a moment Jakirovic admitted was pivotal after Karlan Grant had also passed up a good opening, especially when Nat Phillips handballed which was the game’s key moment.
“We got lucky in these two situations because in the second one, I saw the ball already in the net. We survived, and they gave us a penalty,” he said.
“We took advantage of this through Oli, and then at half-time we changed things. We put Amir on instead of Kyle (Joseph) because he also got one kick, like a dead leg.
“Tactically, we found our balance again, and I think that we controlled the second half much better, and we had a few very nice chances to go 2-0 up. The red card helped us a lot, and maybe after this, when we have extra men, we can play much more calmly in possession. A clean sheet. I’m very pleased and would like to congratulate the lads one more time.”
Given how City struggled last season, to be safely nestled inside the top six at Christmas is a huge step forward.
“It’s a miracle,” he continued. “I said already at the beginning of this season, it’s a new season, a new challenge.
“I think that we changed mentality, but it’s also the players, they are very hardworking, very nice group. They stick together. We have a huge togetherness, and, I’m very pleased with all the players.”
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