MCCLEAN: I’M THE MOST ABUSED PLAYER
Marshall 6, Byrne 10, Kipre 8, Balogun 6 (Dobre 77, 6), Robinson 6 (Pearce 56, 6), Morsy 8, Williams 7 (Evans 71, 56, 6), Naismith 8, Dowell 9 (Roberts 6), Lowe 8, Moore 8 (Massey 56, 6). Long 4, Pennington 3 (Tafazolli 46, 5), Burke 3, de Wijs 3, Elder 4,
3 Honeyman 5, da Silva Lopes 4, Bowler (Batty 35, 6), Toral 4 (Stewart 46, 5), Wilks 4 (Eaves 46,5, 5), Magennis 3 (Lewis-Potter 57, 5).
Tony Harrington
JAMES McCLEAN says no player has received more abuse than him – and yet he has had zero support.
Stoke City’s Republic of Ireland winger entered the row about social media platforms after racial abuse suffered by Wilfried Zaha,
David McGoldrick and Yannick Bolasie. McClean has had bullets posted to him and Covid-19 death wishes on his kids over his refusal to wear a poppy.
McClean (left), who faces Bristol City this evening, said: “Listening to their disgust at it and rightly so... it’s horrendous and nobody
HULL CITY slumped to the joint-heaviest defeat in their 116-year history on an extraordinary night against a rampant Wigan.
Grant McCann’s struggling side look all set to drop into League One – even if the Latics suffer a threatened 12-point deduction after going into administration.
Wigan scored SEVEN goals in a fantastic first-half for Paul Cook’s men with Kieran Dowell clinching his hat-trick after the break to add to Hull’s woes.
That completed the Tigers’ biggest reverse since they lost 8-0 at Wolves in 1911.
McCann has faced calls to quit and the shell-shocked Hull boss said: “I don’t think that’s a question I’ll answer now.
“We have two huge games coming up, so I’ll prepare the team to try and get results.
“We just looked like we were going to concede every time they went forward. We could have been 10-0 down at half-time.
“We didn’t do ourselves any justice at all. Everyone is really low in the changing room.”
The result set a new record league win for the Latics. Kal Naismith opened the scoring inside the first minute by heading in Dowell’s cross.
It was 2-0 in the 27th minute when Kieffer Moore turned in Nathan Byrne’s pull-back from the by-line. Five minutes later, Dowell scored his first of the night after neat work from Sam Morsy and Jamal Lowe.
Lowe himself made it 4-0 after 37 minutes with a smart finish from another Byrne assist, and the full-back set up Moore’s header for number five, three minutes later.
Dowell was given space to run into the area and score from 15 yards on 42 minutes to make it 6-0. And midfielder Joe Williams’ thundering shot from the edge of the area made it seven before the break.
A 65th-minute volley from Dowell completed the scoring and his hat-trick, Latics boss Cook said: “Since news came through we were in administration, the town rallied around us unbelievably well. It’s been humbling for myself and the players.” should be subjected to that. But what leaves a sour taste is I’ve had more abuse than any other player in my nine years in England.”
Charlton boss Lee Bowyer aims to push fellow strugglers Birmingham closer to the drop – without joining them. He said: “I’ve been linked to Birmingham because I’ve played there.”
Nottingham Forest skipper Ben Watson has urged his team-mates to nail down a play-off spot by beating Swansea and said: “We have to finish the job.”
In-form Brentford are eyeing automatic promotion ahead of their home clash with Preston.