Caretaker manager Mike Phelan has declared himself proud of the Hull City players following the narrow loss to Manchester United at the weekend.
Hosting Jose Mourinho’s side at the KCOM Stadium for the match at the weekend, Hull went down one nil on the day to a 92nd minute goal by Marcus Rashford, and Phelan knew it was the one mistake in the game that cost us after such a spirited performance.
Speaking to the Official Site in his post game press interviews, Phelan admitted that after such a good defensive performance in a game the visitors dominated in possession and attempts at goal, their winner came from the one moment where concentration lapsed – but whilst he was disappointed he knew what a phenomenal effort it had been from the side to last out that long.
‘Frustrating. Disappointing. Just that lack of concentration at the end against a quality team lost us the game. Overall, we were committed. We showed great effort, enthusiasm – yes it was difficult at times but that is what you`re up against. Credit to our players. They showed a lot of will and desire and I think they wanted to prove something. It`s just a massive disappointment for them to lose at the end. I`ve said to the players that sometimes you need to feel a bit of hurt like that. It happens, but hopefully they can learn from it and correct it if we`re in that situation again because it`s a long, hard season. However, with six points after three games, I think we would have taken that before it all started.’
He also confirmed that Robert Snodgrass came off in the second period with a tight calf, but with the international break now hopefully it won’t be a case of another body down.
Curtis Davies was also speaking at the full time whistle in the match, and although gutted with the final result, he knew the side could take a hell of a lot of heart and confidence from their overall showing in the match.
‘It`s sickening when you lose to any side in the 90th or 94th minute – it`s tough to take. But we`ve got to take a lot of heart from our performance in terms of the desire that we showed, the heart that we showed and every man working for one another. We have to take all of that into the games coming up after the international break. We probably need that break right now and hopefully a few more bodies come into the club during it. We worked hard out of possession against United, we were disciplined and we dug in to get into position when we didn`t have the ball. We limited them mainly to long shots. Unfortunately, the one time they did get in they managed to score.’
