Jakupovic save earns Hull a precious point

IN THE end it felt like a victory, even if it wasn’t and even if Hull manager Marco Silva said it didn’t.

When Eldin Jakupovic leapt to his left in a feat of rare athleticism and palmed away Dusan Tadic’s last-minute penalty with a single hand, the Hull players rushed to embrace their goalkeeper. None more so than Alfred N’Diaye. They knew what it meant. It was not only a point saved, it was momentum maintained. And for now, Hull’s trajectory is heading in the right direction. Just.

For 90 minutes Hull had defended stoutly. They were steadfast and steady, not much more than that. But they know what they are these days and they stuck to their task.

Southampton were frustrated, not to the point of exasperation because, frankly, their season is over. But they had seemingly accepted that Hull deserved a point and appeared to be playing out the game with that conclusion in mind.

So when a cross came in in the 90th minute and N’Diaye made a grab for Maya Yoshida’s shoulder, it was an uncharacteristic false step by Hull. Yoshida seized the opportunity, dropped to the floor and Mike Dean duly awarded the penalty.

Yet up stepped Tadic, away leapt Jakupovic (inset) and a precious point was secured. ‘It was not like a victory,’ said Silva. ‘But it was important. And an important moment of the game. If we had lost after the way we played, we wouldn’t have deserved it and it wouldn’t be good for us.

‘This will give us more confidence. And we changed our away form as well. Fantastic attitude from our players and our tactical awareness was very good and our support as well. It’s important for us and an important point. It’s not easy but our players showed big, big courage again today.’

In injury time, Hull had a chance to win it. A corner was met by Oumar Niasse’s head and only Cedric Soares on the goal-line saved Southampton.

In addition, Niasse’s shirt was clearly being held. Another penalty would have been justified. ‘There were similar situations in the other box and the ref didn’t give it to us,’ said Silva succinctly. Southampton were lacklustre and that annoyed coach Claude Puel who said: ‘There wasn’t enough quality, rhythm and intensity. Our play was too poor and too slow. We could have won the game at the end with the penalty but we could have lost it at the end as well. A bad day for us.’