Ben: Restore pride of Lions

HULL striker Jarrod Bowen was nearly put off scoring the vital penalty which eased the pressure on manager Nigel Adkins

– by his own team-mate.

Bowen’s 69th-minute strike earned Hull a point before Yorkshire rivals Leeds’ visit the KCOM tomorrow, cancelling out Britt Assombalonga’s fourth goal of the season and denying Middlesbrough top spot.

But fit-again Polish winger Kamil Grosicki, who was close to quitting the Tigers in the summer, was desperate to take the spot-kick, only to be stopped in his tracks by Bowen and Adkins.

Bowen said: “I have been on penalties for the last two games but when it came, Kamil was in my earhole, saying he wanted to take it, so it put a bit more pressure on me.

“Thankfully the gaffer chose me. I told Kamil that I was on penalties and that was about it. He was saying, ‘Please, please, come on!’.

“We spoke about it with the manager before the game, so I don’t know why he was trying to play up. Probably because he wanted to score as well.

“Sometimes when someone is at the back of your mind ,you have got to make sure you definitely score then.

“But I knew where I was going before the penalty and I put it there and hit the target.”

Bowen sent Darren Randolph the wrong way from the spot to deny the Boro keeper his eighth clean sheet of the season.

Boro, who travel to Ipswich tomorrow, have now scored just 12 in 10 and conceded four.

Defender Ryan Shotton admitted the lack of goals is causing concern.

He said: “We’re brilliant one end and we’ve just got to improve in the final third by getting touches on the ball and getting that bit of luck. It’s the last piece in the jigsaw.

“We’ve spoken about it a lot, we know exactly what we’ve been lacking. We’re not shying away from it.”