City got themselves a point on the road to remain inside the top six
Sergej Jakirovic applauds the Hull City fans after the draw at Oxford United(Image: Michael Zemanek/Shutterstock )
Sergej Jakirovic admitted the lack of quality in the final third was Hull City’s biggest problem after being held to a 1-1 draw at struggling Oxford United on Good Friday.
City roared into a fourth-minute lead when Mo Belloumi fired in to mark his return to the starting line-up at the ground where he suffered that devastating ACL injury on Bonfire Night in 2024.
In control and with Oxford’s early threat calmed, Matt Crooks lost the ball in midfield and from there, Charlie Hughes’ rash challenge on Will Lankshear inside the box gifted the U’s the chance to respond from the penalty spot.
Cameron Brannagan slammed in barely 10 minutes later to level it up, and from then on, City laboured against Matt Bloomfield’s men, who were perhaps unlucky not to take all three points.
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Jakirovic cut a frustrated figure throughout, but felt the point was something to cling onto ahead of Monday’s big showdown against leaders Coventry City.
“Oxford have played the last five games, and they’ve taken 10 points, they’re fighting to stay in the league to avoid relegation,” he said of United’s battling. “Especially in these circumstances with the weather conditions, the wind, you never know when the ball will stop in the air. They know how to use this wind. This is my impression.
“We entered the game very well, took the lead through Mo Belloumi with a very nice goal. We controlled mostly everything, OK, these long balls through (Will) Lankshear, especially, he’s very mobile, and he’s a good player. We made one mistake in our midfield when we lost a very easy ball, and they took advantage.
“We tried something, but we were without an idea on the ball. We played around, we tried to break the pass line in the pockets, to be patient, have a better body position, and make better decisions in the last third. We had this one good chance through Kyle Joseph, and they also had good chances.
“In the second half, we tried to fix these problems, but they entered better in the first 10 to 15 minutes. We had control, but unfortunately, in the last third, it was very bad.
“We made very bad decisions, technical issues, (we needed) better crosses, we had numbers in the box, but a lack of good crosses was our problem.
“Sometimes we tried to kick the ball forward, but we kicked the ball up in the air, and they were at the end of it. They also had a one hundred per cent (with Mark Harris) chance, which came after our corner kick.
“We should be happy with the point, and this is maybe a great result. It’s always our main target to take three points, but also there is an opponent who was good as well, and at 1-1, we go home.”
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