Hull City can’t afford to dwell on what happened on Saturday when they visit Ashton Gate this weekend
Barry is the Hull City correspondent, and previously covered Nottingham Forest for the Nottingham Post/Nottinghamshire Live. Barry has reported on Hull City’s League One title success and Championship campaigns
Hull City must not wallow in the understandable disappointment of Saturday’s no-show against Blackburn Rovers as they prepare for another testing away trip at Bristol City.
Losing 3-0 after such a positive start will have come as a hammer blow, and is the first real test of Sergej Jakirovic’s powers of recovery at the MKM Stadium.
Brushing aside the off-field issues for a moment, everything on the field has largely been moving in an upward trajectory since the Croatian took charge at City; a positive stream of pre-season results and four points from their opening two games was encouraging.
Despite losing the League Cup on penalties at Wrexham, positivity didn’t really dwindle because fans could see the work that had been done to turn the squad into an organised, capable team. Defensively, cracks had begun to show after the clean sheet at Coventry City.
Eight goals have been shipped in the three games since, and while losing Semi Ajayi has been a factor, it can’t solely be down to him, so others must stand up against what will be a test in the South West this weekend.
Yes, they must learn from those mistakes, but given the illness around the camp and how much it impacted the players, it’s tough to be too critical.
The performance was so out of character from what we’ve seen before, but there must be a response on Saturday in Bristol because those bad habits we saw against Rovers cannot be repeated.
A week on from the sickness bug that swept through the dressing room and coaching office, the Tigers must prove it was a one-off and not allow that to happen again. The lack of intensity, unwillingness to make challenges and stop crosses. It was an example of how not to play.
Jakirovic must ensure those errors, and indeed, the defensive lapses that have cost them since the 91st minute at Wrexham, are stamped out.
Logic suggests it won’t happen again because of the well-documented issues going into the visit of Rovers. But picking his group up after such a result may well have been a challenge and getting his group ready for another of the league’s toughest away trips will have been high on the agenda throughout the week.
Memories will be cast back to March when City roared into an early lead at Ashton Gate before Joao Pedro’s rush of blood to the head saw him sent off 90 seconds later, and his side left to battle for a valuable point.
Jakirovic will hope to at least keep 11 men on the pitch this weekend against a side who have started the league season unbeaten, but did suffer a 2-0 loss at Fulham on Wednesday night in the Carabao Cup.
After holding out in Coventry, this is City’s biggest test yet of their progress under the former Dinamo Zagreb chief, and going into the international break, he’ll want to ensure a positive return to sign off the opening five games and ensure the next two weeks are a little more enjoyable.
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