Hull boss Sergej Jakirovic promises pair cash bonus for set-piece goal

Hull boss Sergej Jakirovic revealed he would hand out a cash bonus to Amir Hadziahmetovic and Charlie Hughes for delivering a set-piece goal in the 2-1 win at Southampton.

Jakirovic has been urging his side to score more from dead-ball situations and so was thrilled when Hadziahmetovic’s corner was headed in by Hughes to give Hull a two-goal lead in the first half.

He also had high praise for Kyle Joseph’s well-taken opener.

Jakirovic said: “We are very happy, congratulations to the lads. Tactically, we were good. The first goal, Kyle finished like (Lionel) Messi. From my angle, it was the perfect goal.

“I promised Amir and Charlie bonuses. It is impossible we have been practising set-pieces for so long and every single day we cannot score from them. But today everything was perfect. It was a good cross, good blocking and Charlie was alone.

“I cannot say what the bonus is, but it is cash. It is my promise. Everything is about the money in football.”

Hull moved back into the play-off places after a fifth away match unbeaten, despite having 11 players unavailable for the trip to the south coast.

“It was a very difficult game for us, especially as we have a lot of problems with 11 injuries,” said Jakirovic. “We also lost a couple more in this game, so god knows who we’ll play on Tuesday.

“I am grateful to the players. They are fighting, even with the problems we have they are sticking together.

“The players are fighting. They have been together since day one. I believe we can play even better, especially when we are all together.

“We have completely changed the mentality of this team since last season. They also struggled with a lot of injuries.

“It is a team effort and it has been an opportunity for those players who had less minutes before. It shows their potential and talent.”

Southampton dominated possession and had 22 shots but were thwarted by a resolute Hull defence.

Ross Stewart did grab a consolation, but it was not enough to prevent Tonda Eckert from losing at home for the first time.

Apologetic Eckert took an hour to appear from the dressing room after the match, revealing some “very hard truths” were told.

“It’s us all together,” said the German. “I won’t throw anyone under the bus. We are all responsible.

“We are not where we want to be and I will do everything to turn it around.

“I was in the changing room for a while. There were some very hard truths to be told, not just from me but between the players.

“It will stay in the dressing room what was said, but it was important that some things came out.

“Character shows in tough moments. We started off in a honeymoon here, but every marriage has some tough moments. We need to find a way through it together.

“There are two stories to the game – the amount of chances we had, and the amount of chances they had. If you look at that, there should only be one winner, but the reality is a different one.

“We should not be conceding two chances at home, but I still think there we had more than enough chances to win the game and we didn’t.”