Sergej Jakirovic hails Hull’s character as they fight back for a draw at Swansea

Hull manager Sergej Jakirovic was quick to praise his side’s character after they picked up a point from a 2-2 Championship draw at Swansea, thanks to an equaliser in the seventh minute of stoppage-time.

John Egan’s first league goal since January 2023 earned the Tigers a draw when all seemed lost after Swansea scored from their only two shots on target.

Zan Vipotnik gave them the lead in the 41st minute and then Ronald struck to put them back in front, just before the hour mark.

In between, former Swansea striker Olli McBurnie slid in to convert a superb cross from the left by Ryan Giles to level, three minutes after Vipotnik’s opener.

With time fast running out, Egan’s first goal for the club – since signing in the summer from Burnley – secured a late point for the visitors.

“We didn’t deserve to lose the game, especially after having so many chances in the second half. Their goalkeeper was unbelievable with his saves, just like in Bristol,” said Jakirovic.

“What was bad for us was that we conceded a goal on the counterattack to allow them to take the lead 2-1. But I’m very happy for the lads because we didn’t surrender.

“We changed things with our substitutes. Between the 70-75th minutes, we dropped a little bit and we couldn’t get the ball.

“So we changed and put more pressure on the ball and in the end we got our reward with a very important point. We have more options now off our bench.

“It’s very frustrating that we conceded two goals from two shots on target. The first goal was to not concede goals, but it showed the character of our team to come back as we did.

“Every game in this league is huge because there are so many tough teams. We play Southampton next weekend and after what happened at home against Blackburn, we owe our fans a good performance.”

Even though they picked up a point, Hull dropped two places in the table to 20th, while Swansea stayed in seventh as they extended their unbeaten run to six games in all competitions.

Swansea manager Alan Sheehan was left disappointed at dropping two points at the death.

“It’s very disappointing, the manner of the equaliser. Seven minutes was a long time to add on but ultimately, we only played in patches,” said Sheehan.

“I will not hide from that. First half was very comfortable, but we were comfortable without doing a whole lot.

“We conceded more chances today than we have in the last four games – that’s not like us.

“Defensively, the longer the game went on, we dropped, dropped, dropped.

“We tried to see out the game but we didn’t do that. We’ll take the point and there is a load to improve on.

“When you’re ahead after 96 minutes, no matter what happens you should see out the game. If we had done it would have been a wonderful battling win.

“If not, it’s obviously disappointing to concede like that.”