Hull City head coach Sergej Jakirovic revealed striker Oli McBurnie was coughing up blood at half-time of Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Brentford.
The talismanic forward scored City‘s goal in the first half before finding himself on the wrong end of an elbow into his ribs, which left him in serious discomfort at the interval and will be looked at over the next 24 hours.
McBurnie’s wait for a goal lasted more than two-and-a-half years, but he finally got off the mark in the top flight for City with a well-taken penalty after just 24 minutes, slotting coolly past Caoimhín Kelleher.
That lead lasted until just after the hour, when Brentford’s Dango Ouattara tapped in from close range after the ball landed kindly at his feet.
Make sure you never miss the latest Hull City news and opinion by making Hull Live one of your Google preferred sources.
City could have won it late on, when substitutes Mohamed-Ali Cho and Joe Gelhardt combining with Gelhardt dragging a shot wide.
“It was a very good penalty against an excellent goalkeeper; he’s playing an excellent season,” the Croatian told Hull Live. “It’s not easy, but you know Oli. Oli doesn’t have problems with self-confidence.
“He’s doing a lot of dirty jobs, he’s getting a lot of kicks. Today, he got one kick in the ribs, and at half-time, he was spitting blood, so it’s not easy, and sometimes, he’s unprotected there (by referees).
“I see from my bench it’s fifty metres from me, I don’t know where the problem is, because this is, I can say, on purpose, because the ball is not near him.
“Everything is possible, so we will see,” Jakirovic added when asked if there was concern moving forward for his striker.
Jakirovic demanded a response after last Saturday’s dismal showing at Fulham, and he certainly got that from his players, who were deservedly in front at the break, before being pegged back.
“I think that we played a good game, especially the first half,” the Tigers boss continued. “We were much more aggressive in duels, and we won a lot of first and second balls.
“We didn’t allow anything, maybe after some cheap mistakes, bad passing, bad receiving, so you can see how fast they are. They are inside our box after only five seconds of the game. Maybe we should score at least one more with better decisions.
“We were good in the high press when they try to build up because they will take risks. This is their style.
“We took one ball, and Oli McBurnie scored one goal. Maybe in the second half, around 60 minutes, we lost a little bit of control. Then they were better, but this is Brentford, so they took more risks. With some substitutions, they put more quality on the pitch, and then we tried with our substitutions.
“In the end, maybe I can regret things because of these two chances that we had through Mohamed-Ali Cho and Joe Gelhardt. Maybe we could score and win 2-1, but in the end, I think it’s a fair result.”
The Tigers felt they could have had a couple of other penalties in the game, with Regan Slater sent tumbling in the first half, and then Mo Belloumi went down just before the equaliser, under a heavy Sangare challenge, which the Premier League’s Match Centre said was checked and cleared with only ‘minimal contact’.
“I don’t know,” he confessed. “I didn’t see that. Regan Slater says somebody pulled him down with his shirt. I don’t know, but they have VAR. How do they measure this contact, God knows?”
Here at Hull Live , we are dedicated to bringing you the best Hull City coverage and analysis. Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest City news by joining our free WhatsApp group.
You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe. You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.