Adkins angered by lack of penalty call

Posted Sunday, April 01, 2018 by PA

Hull head coach Nigel Adkins claimed his side were denied a clear penalty in the 0-0 draw with Championship promotion challengers Aston Villa.

Seb Larsson’s second half free-kick appeared to hit Villa’s Jack Grealish on the arm but referee Andy Davies was not interested in claims for a spot-kick.

Adkins also felt Davies could also have awarded a penalty for Alan Hutton’s nudge on Jon Toral as the Hull player headed over the bar.

Adkins said: “(It was a) clear penalty, no question about it, the player has clearly handled the ball.

“If we didn’t get that we are never going to get a penalty. Jon Toral headed over the bar and the defender has barged into him and that should have been a penalty.”

Hull’s Angus MacDonald had his side’s best chance to score when he forced Sam Johnstone into a second-half save after he picked up the ball from Larsson’s free-kick after the contentious deflection off Grealish’s outstretched arm.

Central defender MacDonald was also on hand on more than one occasion with important blocks and tackles as Hull soaked up concerted pressure from Villa.

His centre-back partner and captain Michael Dawson also put in a fine performance, getting the telling touch on more than one occasion as the Tigers continued their battle to stay out of the relegation zone.

Adkins praised the performance of Dawson, adding: “I thought Michael Dawson, our captain, our leader, was outstanding.”

The Hull head coach felt his side had matched Villa, particularly in the second half.

“We were very good in the second half. I am pleased with the clean sheet,” he said. “We’ve got to respect a point against a side that are in the play-off picture.”

Villa’s best openings of the first half fell to Albert Adomah and he should have done better when he clipped the ball over the Hull bar from close range early on.

Steve Bruce made his first return to the KCOM Stadium since quitting as Tigers boss almost two years ago and admitted his side had not made the most of their first-half openings before fading after the break.

He said: “The disappointing thing was the second half, we never really got going. That’s the frustrating thing.

“We haven’t done enough in the second half, if we are going to be brutally honest we have to have more than we did in the second half.

“At the end of the day we had all of the attacking players on (the pitch) but didn’t have control of the game.”

Asked if his side could challenge second-placed Cardiff for an automatic promotion place, Bruce said: “We probably have to win six of our next seven to give ourselves a chance.”