Moving three points clear of third ‘means nothing’ to Hull boss Grant McCann - 7M sport

Moving three points clear of third ‘means nothing’ to Hull boss Grant McCann



Posted Sunday, January 24, 2021 by PA

Moving three points clear of third ‘means nothing’ to Hull boss Grant McCann

Hull manager Grant McCann would not be drawn into talk of promotion despite his side’s dominant 4-0 victory over fellow contenders Portsmouth.

Two own goals from Pompey defender Jack Whatmough and strikes from the excellent George Honeyman and Josh Magennis strengthened the League One leaders’ hold on an automatic promotion spot.

McCann’s side sit three points clear of the play-off places having played exactly half of their fixtures.

But the Tigers’ boss said: “It doesn’t mean anything. It’s only three points and it wouldn’t have meant anything if we’d lost the game. There’s a long way to go.

“We scored four very good goals, albeit two of them own goals and it’s almost a reverse of the first fixture where we scored two own goals so it’s great to get three points.

“We’re playing against a very good team. Portsmouth haven’t conceded in five or six games and it’s notoriously a tough place to come.”

Pompey fell behind midway through the first half at Fratton Park with goalkeeper Craig MacGillivray saving brilliantly from Keane Lewis-Potter’s header before the ball ricocheted off centre-back Whatmough and into the net.

Hull doubled their lead 16 minutes into the second half as Honeyman put the finishing touch on a goalmouth scramble, after Mallik Wilks’ shot had fallen for him.

Two minutes later, Whatmough again had his head in his hands as he turned Greg Docherty’s low cross past MacGillivray before substitute Magennis put the gloss on the victory in stoppage time.

On Magennis – who tested positive for coronavirus last year – McCann added: “Josh had had a tough time of it really in terms of the illness he had.

“He’s lost about a stone in weight. It hit him badly, worse than others so we have to be careful with him. We probably rushed him back a bit too quickly.”

Whatmough’s first own goal was the first time Pompey had conceded in 563 minutes of league action.

Portsmouth manager Kenny Jackett said: “I didn’t think we had our usual energy.

“As we were trying to get back into the game it went further away from us. Fair play to Hull, it was their day and they deserved to win. They had the key moments and they took them.

“We’ve got to be honest with ourselves. We need to do certain things better.

“There’s an awful lot of football to play. You need to get up into the 80 points mark to be successful this season I think. We have to learn form this quickly and not necessarily sweep it under the carpet.”

Portsmouth on Saturday announced the signing of two new players, George Byers from Swansea and former Bournemouth defender Charlie Daniels.

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