Hull City look to build upon midweek point as they entertain Neil Warnock’s Middlesbrough

Hull City take on Middlesbrough at the MKM Stadium this weekend, looking to build on Tom Eaves’ late equaliser against Blackpool which secured the Tigers their first point since the last international break.

A disappointing run of three consecutive defeats pre-Blackpool has put added pressure on manager Grant McCann. Hull are currently sit 23rd in the Championship with only Derby County’s 12-point deduction separating them from rock bottom.

Following Hull’s opening day demolition of Preston North End, both goals and points have been harder to come by in the second tier, and that victory still stands as their only win of the campaign to date.

Whilst bedding in a host of new faces and still without the likes of George Honeyman and Josh Magennis to rally the troops, it’s been a tough start for McCann’s young side as they have taken the step up from League One.

To add further insult to injury, Hull will also be without the influential Tom Huddlestone, who had made a good impression since joining as a free agent in the summer. Skipper Lewie Coyle will be sitting the game out following his red card on Tuesday but that allows Josh Emmanuel the opportunity to stake a claim in his preferred right-back position. 

Unfortunate to be displaced by Coyle’s superb performances halfway through last season, Emmanuel has had to bide his time for an opportunity but will grab his opportunity with both hands as his manager highlighted when speaking to the media.

“Josh [Emmanuel] is a top-class player and has been very unfortunate to not be in our team with the form of Lewie [Coyle].

“He’s an ultimate professional and trains fantastically every single day. When he’s played in our team, he’s been very good.”

Home form has also been a worry with Hull yet to pick up a win, but Tom Eaves has undoubtedly offered some hope and the chance for the Tigers to build on the precious point earned against Blackpool. McCann has been delighted with Eaves’ response following speculation about him leaving the club in the summer transfer window.

“We’ve been really pleased with him over the past three or four weeks. We had an honest conversation in my office regarding the amount of forwards that we’ve got at the football club, and there was a lot of speculation around whether he was going to leave or not. 

“Tom [Eaves] wanted to stay and fight for his place and we were happy with that. Over the past three or four weeks, he’s got his head down, worked very hard and trained very well. 

“You can see that hunger in his eyes again and I was pleased for him when he came on and scored [in midweek draw] because he’s deserved that in terms of his approach and how he’s going about his business every day. I was delighted to see him come off the bench and score.”

McCann had hoped to have seen better results on the back of the international break, having picked up some encouraging draws against Bournemouth and Swansea, but the injury setback to George Honeyman has not helped.

Despite continued bad luck on the injury front, McCann remained calm in his pre-match press conference and didn’t appear to be too flustered about Hull’s current predicament, maintaining the faith in his players that they can turn things around.

“I said right at the start of the season when people were asking how is the season going to go, we want to be ultra-competitive in every game and I think we have been apart from the Derby game where we didn’t show what we’re about.

“I think in all of the games, we’ve been in them for long spells with opportunities to take the lead. What we believe will be key are the performance levels that we know we can get to and keep trying to raise those levels then these wins aren’t going to be far away.”

Middlesbrough, who also had been on a mini-slump of results, quickly arrested their form with a timely 2-0 home win over the improved Sheffield United on Tuesday. Despite having 35% possession on the evening, first half goals from Duncan Watmore and Paddy McNair were enough to see off Slavisa Jokanovic’s men in an outstanding team performance which left Neil Warnock purring in his post-match summary. 

Man of the Match Sol Bamba, who joined Boro during the summer, was back to his dominant best, having been out of the game whilst recovering from cancer.  Drafted into the back four to stem the run of defeats against Reading and Blackpool, Neil Warnock has given the 36-year-old added responsibility in the role of player-coach.

“I’m just happy to be back training and playing games when I can but I’m also looking ahead to my next chapter in coaching as well.

“I want to be a coach and I want to be a manager one day and Middlesbrough have given me a great platform to do that.

“When I’m on the pitch I try to be the footballer, but the gaffer wants me to do plenty of talking too, so I’m still coaching at that time as well.”

The Boro, who had been tipped to build on last season’s league finish, haven’t quite yet clicked into consistent form so far this season, but their encouraging result in midweek could act as a catalyst to climb the table. The visit to bottom club Hull gives them the perfect opportunity to inject much-needed momentum into their season but manager Neil Warnock has been around the block too many times to expect an easy ride.

“It’s a different challenge but I’m still expecting a tough game. We watched them the other night and they were ever so unlucky against Blackpool. They were losing 1-0, they had a man sent off and then not only equalised but should have won the game but for a great save at the death.

“So even with ten men, they’ve got such a good group of genuine players who work hard for each other and we’ll have to be up and ready for it as well.

“Credit to the manager. When they got relegated I expected Grant would leave. But he didn’t, he rolled his sleeves up and I think well done to him. He’ll have learned so much. I do hope they turn things around, but only after the weekend!”

With the next international break looming, a victory for Hull would be very welcomed, not just for Grant McCann and his staff but for their long-suffering supporters who had last seen their side struggling at this level.

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