The Scotland international has impressed in the early weeks of the season
Hull City head coach Sergej Jakirovic has praised the impact of the club’s supporters in helping them secure three huge points against Southampton at the weekend.
The Croatian boss felt that both he and his players owed the supporters a performance after losing 3-0 at home to Blackburn Rovers in their previous MKM Stadium outing almost a month earlier, and they certainly delivered.
City were superb against one of the promotion favourites and an expensively assembled squad, racing into a 3-0 lead courtesy of goals from Kyle Joseph, John Lundstram and in-form marksman Oli McBurnie.
Aside from the injury setback to Mo Belloumi, the only blot on the Tigers’ copybook was the 95th-minute consolation from Adam Armstrong, which denied the hosts what would have been a deserved clean sheet.
“Yes (we owed them), I’m very thankful for the fans because they, they were struggling also with us on the pitch in some parts of the game,” Jakirovic told Hull Live when asked if the repayment was made. “They are a big support to us, and we have a feeling for them.”
At the start of the second half, when Will Still’s men were pinning the Tigers back, the majority of the 22,000-strong home crowd sensed their side needed some help and did just that before roaring them onto a stunning counter-attacking goal, finished off emphatically by Lundstram.
“This is football,” the head coach said. “You cannot dominate all of the game. Some parts of the game you dominate, and my theory is when we dominate, we need to score, so this is always like this, but a big, big thanks to the fans.”
Jakirovic, who praised the whole team for an impressive display, eulogised over the importance of striker McBurnie, who claimed a goal and assist in another impressive display which saw him named in the Team of the Week, justifying why the Tigers spent so much of the summer chasing him.
“In my opinion, opposing players are afraid of him,” the City chief continued. “He’s a fighter with a huge character; he’s always fighting. He’s very important when we are out of possession. He tried to put pressure on them, to press the ball together with Kyle (Joseph), with Darko (Gyabi) and (Regan) Slater, Joffy (Joe Gelhardt), and in the end, he’s got six goals and assists. It was a perfect day for him.”
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