Nigel Adkins hails Hull’s mentality

Posted Wednesday, April 11, 2018 by PA

Hull boss Nigel Adkins hailed the professionalism of his side as they made it four wins out of the last seven games with a comprehensive 5-0 victory at struggling Burton.

Kamil Grosicki scored a goal in each half after Liverpool loanee Harry Wilson had given the Tigers a fifth-minute lead. David Meyler’s second-half penalty and a stoppage-time effort from substitute Will Keane completed the rout.

The win saw the Tigers move 10 points clear of the relegation zone and Adkins said: “The mentality was spot on tonight. We knew it was going to be a challenging fixture, a Tuesday night at Burton, they needed the victory as much as we wanted the victory.

“We had an excellent victory at the weekend against QPR and we have talked since then about getting our mentality right and we have done all of the horrible things that you have got to do to win a game of football right.

“We have scored five goals and kept a clean sheet. The whole squad has been utilised and we obviously made changes going into the game. We were fit and we were fresh. There is a togetherness about everybody and it was great to get Will Keane and Kevin Stewart out there at the end.

“We are not safe mathematically but tonight has gone a long way towards making sure we are in the Championship next season. We keep building and planning and we keep talking about getting our culture and our performances right.

“I have made seven changes tonight. Up to now we have not beaten a bottom-three side and it was about time we did that away from home. We are in good form now and we backed up an excellent 3-0 victory at Ipswich.”

Brewers boss Nigel Clough was left to reflect on a ‘harsh’ final score that pushes his side closer to the relegation trap door with just four games remaining in the Championship season.

“I thought the scoreline was a bit harsh on us.” Clough said. “The first two goals were too easy and there was a game-changing moment when we got the penalty turned down at 1-0.”

Clough felt that Hull keeper Alan McGregor’s challenge on striker Liam Boyce was a “stonewall” penalty which could have affected the outcome.

“At 1-0, if you get back to 1-1 you never know. It’s an absolute stonewall penalty. The goalkeeper has got nowhere near the ball and brought him down but we weren’t greatly surprised that it wasn’t given.”

Clough feels that his side are in the last-chance saloon now as far as avoiding relegation is concerned.

“We are nearly done now I would say. We needed to get something tonight realistically but we will have a go against Derby on Saturday and see how we go.”