Hull City boss Marco Silva calls for his Tigers to develop ruthless streak

Hull City's manager Marco Silva at Stoke on Saturday. Picture: Barrington Coombs/PA

ANOTHER fruitless away trip prompted Hull City manager Marco Silva to blame poor finishing as the cause of their latest setback on the road.

The Tigers went down 3-1 at Stoke City, although Silva believed they had more than enough chances to take something away from the game, possibly even enough to garner a first away win since August.

With Swansea also losing out at Watford, Hull remain two points clear of the bottom three and looked on course for a point when Harry Maguire levelled following Marko Arnautovic’s early opener.

But Mark Hughes’s introduction of Jonathan Walters and Peter Crouch around the hour mark proved telling as the two soon combined to restore the Potters’ lead with a trademark header from the former England international.

Another customary strike from Shaqiri sealed the three points 10 minutes from time as the Swiss unleashed a 30-yard attempt that flew into the top corner of the net.

“The difference is clear to me - it’s the finishing,” said Silva afterwards.

“We had a lot of chances like Stoke; they scored and we didn’t score. We lost the big chance to take points. This is what I feel in this moment.

“Now is the moment to look at the table and look at the results of our opponents but I prefer to analyse our performance.

“To take points away, and at home, we need to improve. We can’t start like we did first 15 minutes.”