Head coach Grant McCann happy to ride luck and see Hull City's ugly side against Boro

HULL CITY head coach Grant McCann admits his Tigers’ side rode their luck at times en route to a milestone 2-0 victory over Middlesbrough - but remains proud of his team for showing their ugly side.

A fortuitous opener saw Keane-Lewis Potter’s strike hit the post and rebound into the net off the back of Boro keeper Joe Lumley on 81 minutes as Hull took the lead for the first time in a league game this term.

Boro - who spurned golden chances through Andraz Sporar and Marcus Taverner before Hull’s opener and were also thwarted by a brilliant save from Matt Ingram to deny Paddy McNair - then conceded a second in stoppage-time through substitute Mallik Wilks.

Wilks also found the net in Hull’s 2-1 win over Boro 457 days earlier in July 2020 - the previous time that the Tigers had won a home game at second-tier level.

You had to go further back some 651 days for the last occasion that Hull had triumphed in front of home supporters at the MKM Stadium, a 3-0 success over Birmingham on December 21, 2019.

McCann, whose side secured their first victory in ten matches, said: “It is a good win, given the circumstances. It is never easy against a Neil Warnock team and they had a tremendous result against Sheffield United.

“I thought we had to dig deep. We rode our luck at times, of course we did and there were some tremendous saves from Matty and a shot from Sporar which went just past the post in the second half.

“We had to stay strong defensively and be organised for first and second balls and we had to do the ugly and nasty side well and we did it.

“I said to the players at half-time: ‘Stick to the plan and keep winning those first and second balls’ and it does not come unless you do that and then there were the two bits of quality to win it.

“It was a clean strike from Keane, although whether he gets that goal or not, I am not sure. Then, Mallik scored a tremendous bit of skill.

“We have played a lot better and lost this season, for sure. But for us, it was important to get the three points and we wanted to continue from where we were on Tuesday night.

“We had to fight and battle today and we did.”