'We didn't' - Hull City boss Sergej Jakirović delivers honest assessment of Portsmouth win
Portsmouth suffered a narrow home defeat against Championship rivals Hull City on Saturday.
Hull City head coach Sergej Jakirović appeared to be dissatisfied with his side’s performance in Saturday’s narrow win at Championship rivals Portsmouth.
The Tigers made the trip to Fratton Park looking to boost their hopes of landing a play-off spot this season - but they were made to work for their points by a Pompey side aiming for three points that would have increased their chances of preserving their Championship status for another season.
Both sides had chances to open the scoring during the first half but the deadlock remained in place when the half-time whistle was blown and it remained unbroken until the final quarter of an hour when Hull substitute Matt Crooks finally grabbed what would be the only goal of the game after scoring in the corresponding fixture last season. Despite watching his side claim all three points to aid their bid for promotion into the Premier League, Jakirović delivered an underwhelming assessment of their performance.
He told the club website: “We fought to the end. We didn’t play good. Our performance was average. We fought but especially first half, we missed a lot in possession. You can play but you don’t have control because we made some unforced errors, just gave the ball away. At half-time, we agreed that we could play with much more confidence, be more vertical and have more combination.
“We increased energy with substitutions because sometimes in the first half I felt we were not 100% with our energy – you saw that with first, second balls. I felt that we would have one chance. How? I don’t know because we were mostly in our half, defending well, especially when they put on offensive players. This goal, we must give Oli credit. We showed character again. We controlled set-pieces well and long throw-ins. When the goalkeeper has the ball, he has a very long-distance kick. In the end, we took three points, which is most important. I don’t care anymore about impressions, but I would like us to play much better, especially in possession.”
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