City’s Croatian goalkeeper is gunning for a hat-trick of clean sheets in the play-offs
Hull City goalkeeper Ivor Pandur will have a big role to play at Wembley(Image: Ian Hodgson/PA Wire)
Ivor Pandur admits promotion to the Premier League would mean the world to him, and Hull City, as the Tigers prepare for the club’s biggest occasion in a decade.
City will take on Middlesbrough at Wembley on Saturday afternoon for a place in the Premier League, and Pandur cannot wait for the opportunity to write himself into Tigers folklore.
The Championship play-off final is a far cry from the struggles of last season, when the Tigers survived on the final day of the season with a battling draw at Portsmouth, courtesy of Matt Crooks’ goal.
Pandur says the pressure playing for a place in the Premier League is vastly different to the type you feel when battling to stay in the league, with people’s jobs at risk.
“You can call it pressure or whatever, it just brings the best out of everybody because it will keep you on your toes, it will give you energy, and it will make you do things that you couldn’t believe that you can do,” he told Hull Live.
“It’s a big game, it’s high stakes, but it’s a game of football at the end of the day, and we showed throughout the whole season that we can play against anybody and win against anybody. We have that belief going into this game that at the end, we’re going to be successful.
“We changed the coaching staff, we brought a lot of experienced players, big, big characters, which I’m not saying we didn’t have last year, but we did change a couple of coaches. We did change playing styles, there were also big injuries for our best players, Mo (Belloumi) and Liam (Millar), and it wasn’t easy, but it was also a fight and a fight that brings you much more pressure than this does because.
“A lot of people are depending on their jobs, and they’re losing money if we are relegated and nobody wants that, so I think that was almost a miracle to be fair, the season that we stayed up.”
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Promotion to the Premier League would be seismic for the club, who have endured some tough years since relegation from the top flight in 2017. For Pandur, promotion would be the pinnacle of a career that could yet see him play for his country at this summer’s World Cup.
“In this moment of time, it’s everything for me, with the help of my family, of course. It’s everything I dream about, think about, wake up with, and go to sleep with in a good way. That’s keeping me excited. A big, big sense of privilege to be able to be in this moment of time with this team and to do a great thing.”
While City fans the world over will have gone to sleep on Friday night nervous, the 26-year-old says he gets good rest before a game, and believes it will not have been any different preparing for the biggest occasion of his life.
“I’m a good sleeper,” he explained. “I don’t get too nervous, especially the day before. It’s a game of football, and we all know how to play football, more than good enough, that’s why we’re here.”
As Jakirovic’s band of brothers look to take one final leap towards greatness, Pandur remains steadfast in his belief that City can make dreams come true.
“There’s something inside which I told you about even before Norwich, before the play-offs, there’s something that when I see around myself here, it gives me this feeling of success and something really extraordinary, and we truly believe it.”
LISTEN: The essential Wembley preview with Ilicali, Jakirovic, Coyle, Pandur and Millar
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