Full-strength Tigers aim to cap Dawson’s birthday celebrations with derby win
‘THE LAST FEW WEEKS HAVE AGED ME’: Caretaker boss Andy Dawson, who was 44 on Thursday. Picture credit: Hull City
By Simon Bristow
Hull City should be close to full strength for the trip to Rotherham on Saturday as they look to record back-to-back wins for the first time this season.
The Tigers go into the Yorkshire derby with their tails up after pulling off a much needed 3-1 win at Blackpool on Wednesday, a result that pulled them away from the drop zone in the Sky Bet Championship after a poor start to the season that saw Shota Arveladze sacked as manager at the end of last month.
Caretaker boss Andy Dawson told an online press conference today that his players “deserved” the win at Bloomfield Road, a victory for which he should take some credit after deciding to leave leading scorer Oscar Estupiñán on the bench along with some other big names.
But knowing he may have to shuffle the pack again as City prepare for their third game in a week, Dawson at least knows he has nearly the full complement of players at his disposal.
Captain Lewie Coyle trained on Friday morning, and Callum Elder was described as “nearly there” after overcoming a hamstring injury, with fellow defender Brandon Fleming also said to be “ready” after coming on late at Blackpool.
Dawson said: “Coylie trained today, Cal’s nearly there. I’ll have a meeting with the physio department this afternoon. It’s whether we risk him or we put him back in. They’re decisions and conversations we’ll have this afternoon. But he’s about ready to go and all the others from Wednesday night are available, so we’ve got a really strong squad to pick from.”
Asked about his selection headache, Dawson said: “I’ve just spoke to a young player today that’s been giving everything and he wasn’t involved the other day, and that’s hard. But like we always say, the more times you do it right, both on and off the pitch, you get your rewards in the end.
“So yes, it’s difficult. It’s always difficult because I see that group every day in training and what they give to become better individually and collectively. Unfortunately for them, and difficult job for us as coaches, is that you have to pick eleven.
“And the ones that performed the other night were fantastic. Absolutely executed the plan to precision. They’ll be really confident, but yeah it is difficult. It’s a lot more difficult when you win.”
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Dawson said of the Blackpool win: “It was a really positive performance, and like I said after I’m really pleased for the boys because they’ve deserved that for a few weeks and things haven’t quite gone our way. For 90-odd minutes they stuck together and it will give them confidence ready to go into the derby at the weekend.”
He also revealed how hard the players had worked for the victory at Blackpool, with some covering more than 12km and 1,000 metres at “high intensity” or high speed. “And that’s high,” he said. “That is a good, good shift. But that’s what we expect.”
The press conference took place a day after Dawson’s 44th birthday, and when he was told “You don’t look a day over 35”, the manager laughed and said: “The last few weeks have aged me, I think.”
Asked if he had continued the tradition of bringing birthday cake into the training ground, Dawson said: “Not today, I’ll do that next week. Too close to the game for me to be bringing cakes in.”