Hull City: Grant McCann admits confidence and belief low after latest Tigers defeat

UNDER-PRESSURE: Hull City manager Grant McCann Picture: Tim Markland/PAUNDER-PRESSURE: Hull City manager Grant McCann Picture: Tim Markland/PA
UNDER-PRESSURE: Hull City manager Grant McCann Picture: Tim Markland/PA
HULL CITY boss Grant McCann admitted his team lacked the “killer-edge” as pressure continued to build on the back of yet another Championship defeat.

Elijah Adebayo scored the only goal of the game to move the Hatters up to fifth in the table, while the Tigers remain in the bottom three after a third straight defeat, increasing the pressure on McCann, who said his players were feeling the pressure.

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“We didn’t start well, Luton were better than us in the first half, they obviously get their goal and we spoke to the players about you have to start well here,” said McCann.

“It’s a tough place to come and we gave them the upper hand with the goal, and then we’re in an uphill battle again.

“We’re trying to come back from 1-0 down away from home when we’re not doing particularly well as we can do in terms of a goal front in this present time, but in the second half we rallied, kept going, penned them in their half but just couldn’t get the goal.

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“It is belief, it’s confidence – forwards, midfield players, they probably feel the world is on their shoulders at this present time, but we can’t do any more in terms of an attacking sense.

“We’re putting together some really good passes and plays together and we’re getting to the final third with ease against some very good Championship teams, but we just don’t seem to be finding that killer edge at the moment.”

Luton boss Nathan Jones insisted his side have ‘not done anything yet’ despite being in among the top six play-off spots.

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“Let people say whatever they want, we know what we have inside, we know our own ambitions, where we want to be, what we want to do,” said Jones.

“It doesn’t matter what people think about us, we have a certain way of playing, a certain way of doing stuff, we have a belief about us that we can do certain things, but we’ve done nothing yet.

“It’s the third game in a week, we’ve had two away games again and then coming into the home games, so the important thing today was just to win the game.

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“Credit to them, they really had a go and we had to see the game out and I thought we did that well.

“We had to use the squad, but any win in the Championship is tough to do, it’s tough fought.”

Luton Town: Sluga, Lockyer, Rea, Bradley, Bree, Clark, Berry (Mpanzu 22), Bell, Cornick, Adebayo (Jerome 46), Onyedinma (Burke 78). Unused substitutes: Shea, Mendes Gomes, Campbell, Muskwe.

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Hull City: Ingram, Coyle, Bernard, Greaves, Elder, Smallwood, Docherty, Wilks (Moncur 64), Honeyman (Williams 83), Lewis-Potter, Magennis (Eaves 69). Unused substitutes: Emmanuel, Cannon, McLoughlin, Cartwright.

Referee: John Busby (Oxfordshire).

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