Happy hunting ground for Hull boss Grant McCann

Posted Sunday, November 22, 2020 by PA

Hull boss Grant McCann was pleased to pick up another win at a happy hunting ground after his side moved top of Sky Bet League One thanks to a 3-1 win at MK Dons.

As a player, McCann was a thorn in the side of the Dons, as the former Northern Ireland midfielder often came away from Stadium MK with the result during his time with Peterborough.

This time it was his fellow Ulsterman Josh Magennis who did the damage as he struck twice in a frenetic opening 12 minutes to help the Tigers leapfrog Peterborough at the summit.

McCann said: “It’s always a tough game here and it’s a place I’ve enjoyed over the years, to be fair, because I was always coming here and winning when I was with Peterborough and it’s nice to do it with Hull today.

“There were numerous opportunities for us to play in behind them – I think you saw that more so in the first half before they changed their shape a little bit to try and combat us.

“They put two forwards up there to try and stop us and try and get themselves back into the game.

“I thought that suited us because we could go ‘man-v-man’ in midfield and I’d back our midfield against anyone’s in this league, with the energy and the legs that we’ve got.

“It was nice to see the impact of the subs – seeing Eavesy (Tom Eaves) and Scotty (James Scott) combining for the third goal to seal it for us was great.”

Magennis opened the scoring for Hull after eight minutes when he turned in Josh Emmanuel’s cross before Stephen Walker quickly levelled following a defensive mix-up.

However, Magennis restored the Tigers’ lead immediately by blasting into the roof of the net and Scott’s header from Eaves’ nod back across made the points safe with 15 minutes left.

MK Dons boss Russell Martin said: “If you’re a neutral watching the game then I don’t think you would have thought this was top of the league against wherever we are now.

“I think we’ve dominated for most of the game and conceded terrible goals.

“We gave ourselves a mountain to climb by going 1-0 down.

“We got ourselves back in it, the boys responded fantastically and then I thought we were the dominant team.

“We conceded another poor goal, but then after that it was attack versus defence, really.

“They had something to hang onto, which we’ve allowed teams too much this season.

“They’ve got a threat, they’ve obviously got some really good players and they’ve got a way of making things difficult, but I was really proud of my players and their performance.”