By Paul Green at The Den
HULL City boss Sergej Jakirovic admitted he was surprised Barry Bannan was only named on the bench for Monday night’s play-off semi-final second-leg clash at The Den.
Alex Neil named the same starting eleven to face the Tigers after Friday’s 0-0 first-leg stalemate at The MKM Stadium, where Bannan was introduced on 74 minutes to replace Casper De Norre.
The 36-year-old Scotsman had to wait until the 64th minute to enter the fray as part of a double switch which once again saw De Norre make way and Alfie Doughty come on for Zak Sturge.
But just seconds later Hull substitute Mohamed Belloumi fired the visitors ahead in the tie before another fresh face off the bench, Joe Gelhardt, wrapped up the game with a decisive second with eleven minutes remaining.
Jakirovic said: “I expected Bannan to start the game. We prepared also for that – that he would play, to try to press him, to press the ball and play us around the ball.
“But I was a little bit surprised because they started with the same eleven, which is always tricky because who will recover good in these three days.
“A big team will have an advantage as well and we changed, too.
“I was thinking to put one more fresh guy, but then we decided today that we would play it like this.”
In the end, Jakirovic made two changes to his starting line-up from Friday’s game, a decision which paid off with what ultimately was a deserved victory for the Humberside outfit.
He said: “I think we were fantastic today. We had a very good performance.
“We changed our formation because when I watched the first leg, I saw maybe we would have problems because they were coming very high with the full-backs.
“They tried to fill the pockets with two wingers. [Josh] Coburn is there and also we decided to put one centre-back extra [so] then we can also control better set-pieces with Semi Ajayi, and also try to press with two wingers and provide support with [Matt] Crooks and [Regan] Slater.”
Jakirovic added: “I think they did a great job today. Around fifteen or 20 minutes we didn’t clear two or three good balls and then we had some problems there, which is normal and expected.
“Also I think we had a very strong start to the game which was maybe crucial because this is their style.
“Of course, we [were] patient and then we will have our chances.
“That was the main plan. Even when they tried to play around you, [for us] to try to press them, to manage the distance, that we are together like a group and not about individuals because they will play around you.”
