Midfielder Jon Toral says Hull City must "get over the line" fast

FRUSTRATED Jon Toral admits Hull City have to sort their Championship future 'the sooner the better' so they can start building for next season.
Jon Toral, left, knows Hull City still have work to doJon Toral, left, knows Hull City still have work to do
Jon Toral, left, knows Hull City still have work to do

The Tigers knew victory over Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday would have secured their place in the second tier for 2018-19 but they fell 1-0 to Jordan Rhodes’ 18th minute header.

Although in a commanding position, with three games to go, they are still not technically safe.

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Spanish midfielder Toral, 23, said: “The aim for us is to tie it up mathematically first of all and the sooner the better.

“That’s Bristol City away next Saturday and we have to go there and look to win the game.

“We have to make sure we cross the line and finish the job.

“Then we can look at building momentum. The performances since the international break have been good and that’s helped build momentum.

“We have to get it right until the end of the season and hopefully that will help next season.”

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City - who had scored nine goals in their last two outings - dominated the game on Saturday but failed to make the most of their chances and ultimately were made to pay.

Asked if they deserved something from the contest, the former Barcelona junior said: “We’ve played much, much worse than that in the season.

“It was a day where we gave them something to defend and hold on to.

“That killed us a bit. Before that it was an open game.

“As soon as they scored they had something to hang on to and they defended well. “We tried to knock that wall down but it was not possible.

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“That’s disappointing after scoring nine goals in the last two games but that’s football.

“Sometimes it was the final ball, sometimes it was the finishing and sometimes it just didn’t fall for us.

“I think we showed character, we wanted until the last minute but it wasn’t meant to be.

“We’ll take it on the chin and hopefully get points at Bristol.”

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Hull had an effort ruled out in the 92nd minute after Abel Hernandez’s goal-bound effort was touched in by an offside Jarrod Bowen.

Tarol, one of Hull’s key attacking players especially in the first half, said: “I haven’t seen it.

“I played the ball out to Harry (Wilson) for him to cross and obviously the linesman has got a better view.

“We were celebrating thinking we’d finally got something from it but the referee made the call and we have to accept it.”

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Tarol, a £3m summer signing from Arsenal, believes Nigel Adkins is making progress with the squad after taking over in December.

“The manager has implemented some new ideas and everyone has bought into it,” he said, this only Hull’s second defeat in eight games.

“Even when we struggled for results in the beginning, we were performing well and deserved more points around Christmas.

“We kept going after that because it was tough but we finally found the rewards with winning games and competing against the best in the Championship.”