Sergej Jakirovic applauds ‘fighter’ Oli McBurnie as Hull beat Southampton

Hull head coach Sergej Jakirovic praised striker Oli McBurnie after his team brushed aside struggling Southampton 3-1 at the MKM Stadium.

The Scotland forward scored and had an assist as the Tigers climbed the Championship table with their second win of the season.

Kyle Joseph scored his first home goal for the Tigers to give them a first-half lead. John Lundstram then volleyed in a second on the hour before McBurnie sealed the win with 20 minutes to go.

Southampton barely registered a meaningful effort on target before substitute Adam Armstrong scored a consolation in the last minute of stoppage time.

Jakirovic said of McBurnie: “Opposing players are afraid of him because he is a fighter, he is very important when we are out of possession.

“He’s very angry when he loses in training. It’s important because he has experience, especially in the Championship.

“He’s very important without the ball because he tries to work all the time.”

Despite conceding a late consolation to Southampton, Jakirovic said: “I cannot be angry when you watch the whole game, to win 3-1 against Southampton is good.

“I was very angry when we conceded a goal, it was very important to have a clean sheet.

‘I’m happy because the players showed great energy and intensity. We changed it in the second half, and after the second goal we tried to play more on the ball and with confidence.

“It was important that we tried to make crosses and put pressure on them, and we scored two goals. We defended our box very well.

“You need to adapt in this league and when the ball goes into the box you don’t know where it could bounce.”

Will Still has seen his 19th-placed side struggle since relegation from the Premier League, with only one win from six league games this season.

The Southampton manager said: “It was incredibly disappointing. For large parts of that game we were in control and doing the right things. Football games are won in both boxes and we were poor there.

“The first goal we have gifted them a goal. You are totally in control and then you gift them a second goal by losing the ball on the halfway line. Then you concede at a set piece.

“We need to get it right because we are good enough. Apologies to the fans who travelled all that way for that.

“You work so hard on defensive aspects of things but we’re not quite believing that we can score that goal.

“We are not making first contacts with balls which come in the box. We should not be conceding the sort of goals we conceded.

“We can’t keep conceding goals and making it easy for the opposition.”