The influential defender was sent off in the first half at The Hawthorns
Hull City’s Charlie Hughes was sent off at West Brom(Image: PA Wire/PA Images)
Sergej Jakirovic says Hull City will consider appealing Charlie Hughes’ red card in the early stages of the 3-0 defeat at West Brom.
Hughes was dismissed after 36 minutes with the Baggies deservedly leading by Josh Maja’s 24th-minute strike.
The City defender dragged back Jed Wallace down the right-hand side and referee Josh Smith flashed his red card immediately, which gave the visitors a mountain to climb.
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Aune Heggebo scored the crucial second with just over 20 minutes to go and Isaac Price slotted in the third deep in added time to put the seal on a deserved win.
As it stands, Hughes will be banned for next Saturday’s Yorkshire derby against Sheffield Wednesday, but City will consider an appeal.
“I spoke with the referee, and he explained to me it’s a one hundred per cent chance,” Jakirovic told Hull Live.
“He said that he (Jed Wallace) can shoot, he can play a pass back, but when I watch it now on video, it’s foul, but his last touch was quite heavy, so Ivor is on the ball. He doesn’t have control of this ball, and this is now tricky.
“I must respect the referee’s decision, so we will see after maybe with an appeal, so that Charlie can play next week.
“We will ask. We’ve lost nothing to ask, so we will see. The referee saw it as he did, and we have to respect that. This is a lack of concentration and focus, so it’s a technical mistake (from Hughes).”
Jakirovic was unhappy with much of what he saw from his side, especially the manner of the crucial first goal, which he bemoaned.
“In my opinion, West Brom entered the game very, very well, very aggressive on the ball, especially very good at first and second balls. They pressed us good, we didn’t find the exit of their press. Maybe they had some chances there, but we had some chances with Oli McBurnie, so we could punish them, but we didn’t.
“This first goal is so funny when you watch it again; it’s a very funny goal. We are a professional team, so we can defend it; we can stop that.
“For me, Ivor can kick long and better also our defence, our midfield players, because midfield players scored the goal after a bad kick.
“After that, the red card, it was very difficult. We had a lot of problems on our left side. We sit too much back, that was not the plan. I can say this is West Brom’s quality. This position of West Brom is not the real picture. From the beginning of the season, they haven’t had much luck. They have performed well without the result, and they deserved to win. Congratulations to them.”
After the sending off, Liam Millar was withdrawn and then on the stroke of half-time, Lewie Coyle was hurt, with Jakirovic forced into two changes he hadn’t planned, which also impacted their gameplan.
“We had a completely different plan, but after these two situations, we changed completely. It was difficult,” he added.
“At half-time, we agreed that we would try to stay in the game while it’s 1-0. Stay compact, be annoying, boring, behind the ball, and maybe they will make some mistakes there with passing with bad receiving, so we can use the transition, but they were good today.”
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