We’re still in race, insists Adkins
NIGEL Adkins hailed his side’s resilience after they reached 50 points just a week after a heavy defeat at Brentford.
Seven days after being beaten 5-1, the Tigers saw off fellow play-off contenders Birmingham to add to a 2-1 home victory over Millwall at the KCOM Stadium on Tuesday.
Jarrod Bowen got both goals to take them level with Garry Monk’s team, just four points below Bristol City in the final play-off spot.
Hull head coach Adkins said: “We are still in the race. Seven days ago everybody was feeling in a different way because we had just had a heavy defeat.
“I thought it was an exciting game, we played really good football. It’s great to see Jarrod Bowen score two goals.
“There were some really good individual performances and collectively as a team we played some great football.”
Marc Pugh created an opening for the Tigers after five minutes when he crossed from the
left, but Todd Kane’s long-range volley was off target.
Birmingham responded but, when Maxime Colin cut the ball back, Gary Gardner lifted his shot from distance well over.
Lee Camp palmed away a deflected shot from Pugh after 20 minutes following good work by Kamil Grosicki as Hull had their first shot on target.
David Marshall kept out a low effort from Che Adams, who had fought hard to claim a long ball. At the other end, Bowen’s shot from distance was saved by Camp.
But the goalkeeper was left exposed when Birmingham failed to clear and Pugh’s persistence set up Bowen who fired into the roof of the net from close range after 23 minutes.
The visitors responded and
Lukas Jutkiewicz headed wide when Colin’s deep cross picked him out at the far post.
As the home side pushed for a second, Pugh should have done better with a low ball from Grosicki, but shot straight at Camp. Grosicki then pulled a shot wide from close range as half-time approached.
Connor Mahoney saw a shot deflected for a corner early in the second period before Jutkiewciz shot at Marshall.
Hull were awarded a penalty after 58 minutes when Camp brought down Bowen and the winger stepped up to send the keeper the wrong way.
With 25 minutes left, Adams shot into the side-netting from a tight angle after rounding Marshall. Bowen also shot into the side-netting after running on
to a Jackson Irvine pass with 12 minutes to go, and Pugh shot straight at Camp after a run to the edge of the area.
Substitute Jacques Maghoma forced a late save out of Marshall but the Tigers had already done enough to claim the win.
Monk admitted successive away games in the space of five days had taken their toll.
He said: “I think it was a slightly jaded performance from us. The week that we’ve had has been a big demand on the players.
“There are no excuses. We are not the type of team who can be below our levels physically or mentally and get away with results.
“It’s a very difficult league to be at your maximum in every single game.”