Snodgrass plays down transfer talk
ROBERT SNODGRASS insists he is not angling for a move away from Hull despite interest from West Ham and West Bromwich Albion. After Abel Hernandez’s double and a Tyrone Mings own goal gave Hull victory, he lost his record of scoring or assisting more than 50 per cent of Hull’s Premier League goals this season. Nevertheless, the Scotland winger remained at the hub of their creativity as Marco Silva began an 18-match mission to save them from relegation by lifting them off the bottom of the table. ‘Let people talk,’ Snodgrass said. ‘I don’t want to talk about it. There’s too much going on but it’s up to the club, really. ‘I’ve got a job to do for the team, trying to create and score goals and work hard. I can always do better. That’s what I’m trying to do. ‘I’m working hard on the training ground, but it’s all to try to get the team three points.’ After Bournemouth were gifted Junior Stanislas’s early penalty opener, Hernandez, formerly a club record signing when bought for £10million from Palermo in 2014, highlighted his quality with a brace on his first start for two months following groin trouble. ‘We’ve played well for five or six weeks, but we have not had that sort of clinical finisher to take the chances,’ said Snodgrass. ‘You only get half a chance sometimes against these big boys.’ Hernandez prioritised Hull’s survival push over his comeback. ‘I am happy to score two very good goals,’ he said. ‘Most importantly, the team got a very important win.’ Mings, who has struggled with his own injury problems since joining the Premier League, endured a torrid first league start for Bournemouth at centre back. He was sucked under Andrew Robertson’s teasing cross for Hernandez’s headed equaliser, and failed to stop the Uruguayan’s solo surge early in the second half. To make matters worse, Hull went 3-1 up after Tom Huddlestone’s wayward shot deflected off his chest. Eddie Howe was honest enough to admit Bournemouth’s inadequacies at the back — not helped by loanee Nathan Ake returning to Chelsea last week — may trigger a rethink of their transfer window strategy. ‘We hadn’t planned to do much this January but Ake’s departure may lead us to a different scenario. That’s the nature of football,’ the Bournemouth manager said. ‘If we were keeping clean sheets, we would be winning games.’