I’m slowly getting there, says Shaul
HULL FC full-back Jamie Shaul has taken to social media to underline his progress after undergoing knee surgery.
Shaul went under the knife in November after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament while playing for the Black and Whites in a win over Castleford Tigers at the KCOM Stadium.
The 28-year-old is around two and a half months into the recovery process and while his team-mates are busy preparing for the start of the new season, he is working closely with the club’s medical staff in order to rebuild strength in the joint.
It seems Shaul is making good progress with his rehabilitation and FC fans will be encouraged by the video he posted on Instagram this weekend.
It shows the England international, who has been praised for his hard work by head coach Brett Hodgson in recent weeks, completing weighted squats at the club’s County Road training ground.
“Slowly getting there,” he wrote for the video’s accompanying caption.
Shaul still has a long and arduous recovery process ahead and he isn’t expected to return to the field for several months yet, with Jake Connor set to fill the full-back void.
However, while they haven’t circled a potential date in the calendar, the club are hopeful that he will be able to return in time to play a small part in the 2021 Super League season.
The full-back secured his future with the club after penning a new deal over the off-season.
Grant Mccann believes tonight’s top of the table meeting with Lincoln City is the perfect fixture for Hull City, after the disappointment of Saturday’s dispiriting defeat at lowly Burton Albion, though he doesn’t believe there’s extra pressure on the game.
Mccann’s men conceded right at the end of a drab 0-0 contest to lose to a side bottom of the table with the worst defensive record in the Football League – their second successive away defeat without scoring. To make matters worse, City were impotent in attack, failing to muster a single shot on target.
That crucial defeat came just hours after the Imps increased their lead at the top to three points, romping to a 3-0 success at Gillingham on Friday evening.
The Imps have by far the best away record in the league winning nine of 12 – including their last five in a row - and will arrive at the KCOM buoyed by last Tuesday’s penalty shoot-out win in the Papa John’s Trophy.
“I wouldn’t say a lot of pressure, there’s 20 games to play,” Mccann said when asked by the BBC if there was extra pressure on tonight’s encounter.
“We’ve been in good form since the turn of the year, this, obviously, was nowhere near what we can be and what we have shown. We’ve got to get back to it.
“There’s going to be results this season – this season of all seasons – where it’s unexpected and we’ve been on the end of it. We need to respond.
“It’s a good game for us, it’s probably the perfect game for us to respond and we need to do that.”
Since turning in a stunning display to win 4-0 at Portsmouth late last month, City have been beaten twice on the road, mustering just one solitary shot on target in those defeats at Accrington and Burton, so Mccann is demanding a return to the levels of consistency that he’s seen from his side previously.
“It’s not great, no one wants to lose games but unfortunately it does happen,” he admitted. “Consistency is the key and we need to get that back. We’ve got six games left in the month, and I think February’s a big month in any season for any team that’s chasing promotion. We’ve lost here and we need to try and respond on Tuesday.”
TONIGHT’S top of the table clash with Lincoln City presents Hull City with the perfect opportunity to move on from Saturday’s humbling defeat at Burton Albion, according to George Honeyman.
The Tigers delivered their worst display of the season to lose 1-0 to the bottom team at the Pirelli Stadium, a result which saw them lose ground on the Imps at the League One summit.
Midfielder Honeyman, arguably City’s best performer so far this term, says Saturday’s defeat has only served to increase the pressure on Grant Mccann’s men ahead of the crunch KCOM Stadium clash.
“We’ve got a really good game to put it right,” said Honeyman. “It was a big game before, it’s a bigger game now.
“You couldn’t ask for a better game to come on Tuesday.”
City’s display at Burton drew staunch criticism from boss Mccann as he watched his side fail to create a single shot on target against the Football League’s leakiest defence.
Honeyman, himself well below-par, admitted City’s quality
HONEYMAN RELISHES IMPS’ CHALLENGE
throughout anywhere expected.
“It wasn’t a good performance – we were off it in all departments,” he said.
“That can sometimes happen over the course of a long season and it’s important to dig it out and come away with a point.
“That’s probably the most disappointing thing (that the team weren’t able to). just was not near the standard
“Our quality in the final third, as a team, was really poor.”
Despite the abject performance, City were on course for a point until Jonny Smith came off the bench to fire in a 90th minute winner, and Honeyman says the Tigers must learn from this harsh lesson, and learn quickly.
“To get sucker-punched at the end was a real kick in the teeth and that’s something we’ve got to get better at,” he said.
“When we’re not quite there, we’ve still got to come away with a share of the spoils. It’s been disappointing a couple of times now we’ve played teams lower down in the league and come away with nothing and that’s something we’ve got to put right.
“If our quality isn’t there for some reason, on any given day, (we need to) make sure we grind it out, get the draw, get a point and get home.”