Sergej Jakirovic feels defeat at Sheffield United was undeserved

Hull manager Sergej Jakirovic insisted his play-off chasing side “were the better team” and deserved at least a point after they lost 2-1 at Sheffield United.

Oli McBurnie’s early goal gave Hull the lead before his team-mate John Lundstram received a game-changing red card in the second half.

A Gustavo Hamer penalty and cool finish late on from substitute Danny Ings turned the game around and handed the Blades all three Sky Bet Championship points.

Jakirovic said: “It is unbelievable for us because we were the better team today. We had so many chances and the game has been changed completely by the referee.

“John (Lundstram) gets a second yellow card because the referee gets in the way. What is he supposed to do in this situation?

“I don’t know what happened with the penalty but I saw six players on the ground. If a penalty was always given for this there would be 10 penalties every game.

“Referees don’t want to speak with you about decisions, they tell you to go away. This is a problem for all head coaches in the Championship.

“We could have been more clinical and finished the game earlier. We lost the game in the end and it is not easy to manage your emotions when you know you’re the better team and you leave with nothing.

“If we play like this for the rest of the season, I have no worries. We have four games to go and in the last two games we have been very good, we just have to keep continue playing like this and the points will come.”

Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder said the message to his players “is as strong as ever”.

Wilder said: “We got off to the worst possible start. Hull are in the position they are for a reason; they’re a team that like to counter and suck you in and they’ve got talented players at the top of the pitch.

“It could have been 4-4 at half time, they had some big chances but we had some really good opportunities as well. They’ve not had to work as hard for their opportunities so we tightened it up in the second half.

“We managed to get hold of the ball and we drove the game forward. We kept working and kept pushing and luckily we managed to find ourselves a winner at the end.

“I know people will talk about the red card and the penalty but we’ve had so many decisions go against us this season. We’re never talking about games anymore; we’re always talking about the referees because they’re missing so many decisions. We’ll take this one bit of luck with open arms.

“It’s been a tough little period for us. This is an expectant football club and we’ve not won in six games. We haven’t got the points we should have done, not only over the last six games but all season.

“The play-offs might have gone for us but the message is as strong as ever. There’s always something to play for and we’re not going to wave a white flag. I want to win every game for the rest of the season.”