Leeds United show the luck of winners, says Grant McCann as Marcelo Bielsa admits win was in doubt
The Tigers held out for 74 minutes, keeping the in-form Whites at bay despite conceding most of the possession and were starting to pose a threat of their own, to the point where McCann's opposite number Marcelo Bielsa admitted the outcome was in doubt.
As it was, Leeds took the lead through a Jordy de Wijs own goal, and added a late second through substitute Ezgjan Alioski.
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Hide Ad“I'm not interested in hard-luck stories, we got zero points,” said Hull manager McCann afterwards.
“I was pleased with the performance. We played well for large periods of the game what we worked on worked well, playing through and over the press and trying to get into dangerous areas.
“What we've shown this season is when we get into those areas we're ruthless but tonight we just didn't take the chances and that probably would have suited us even more because Leeds would have had to come at us a bit more.
“For us to concede off probably Leeds's first shot on target, an own goal by Jordy de Wijs, was hard to take but this is the luck you get when you've got the confidence and momentum of Leeds.
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Hide Ad“The second goal, we thought we'd scored and when we switched off for 20 seconds it was in the back of our net, so that was frustrating.”
The first half had been a backs-to-the-wall effort from Hull, who protected goalkeeper George Long very well, but Tom Eaves in particular carried more threat after the break, and the Tigers were on top when Leeds scored.
“In the first half we were superior to them but in the second half the match was more even,” reflected Bielsa.
“They had chances and we couldn't stop them. We kept on the offensive but it was harder to defend against them.
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Hide Ad“After we scored the second goal we started to manage the game but there was a moment where the result was at risk.
“In the first half we delivered ten crosses, clear cutbacks, and we couldn't connect with any of them. The first goal was like that, a cutback, and they touched it in.
“Before the second half Kiko (Casilla) saved a very good chance.
“We deserved to win but there were clear facts that played in our favour. We had a lot of chances that could have made things easier but it didn't happen.”
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Hide AdMore so than Leeds, Hull have been ruthless in front of goal this season, but with 15-goal Jarrod Bowen well dealt with by Stuart Dallas, that quality deserted them.
“I think there was a spell for about 15 minutes or so when we were on top, really on top, but we just didn't get the rub of the green,” said McCann. “We didn't get our shots off and we had shots blocked,we just couldn't get that all-important goal we've been really good at this season.”
The victory, Leeds's seventh in a row, took them back to the top of the Championship.