Aaron Connolly: Striker ‘touch and go’ for Preston clash
SECOND OPINION: On-loan striker Aaron Connolly. Picture credit: Hull City
By Simon Bristow
Hull City are seeking a second opinion on toe and ankle injuries to star striker Aaron Connolly before deciding whether he can face Preston North End at the MKM Stadium on Saturday.
The Tigers badly missed the Irishman’s goal threat and off the ball work when he was forced to sit out the 3-1 Valentines Day defeat at Norwich on Tuesday, a game Liam Rosenior described as the biggest set-back during his three-month tenure as manager.
Connolly, who has been in “superb” form since joining on loan from Premier League Brighton in January, was injured in the goalless draw at Stoke last weekend, in what Rosenior described as an “innocuous” incident.
Speaking at a press conference at City’s Cottingham training ground today, Rosenior said: “Aaron’s had a scan. We’re just waiting for the second opinion, because the first opinion was it could be something bigger than what it is, but then we’re getting different reports that it could not be that, so I don’t want to say something when it could be something else.
“But at the moment we’re just waiting on the second report from the scan.”
Asked about the injury, he said: “It’s his toe and his ankle both, because when your foot’s loose like that, it’s so innocuous what happened, but when you’re not braced for impact that’s when you do damage, so it’s a real unfortunate one.
“Aaron’s been superb since he’s come in, he’s given us a different dimension. I think it was a dimension we missed on Tuesday in terms of the way that Norwich pressed the game, in terms of where the space was on the pitch, so the sooner that he gets back the better.”
Asked if Connolly was angry, Rosenior said: “He’s still angry, he’s angry whether we win, lose or draw, it doesn’t make a difference with Aaron, which I love about him.
‘WE NEED FIRE IN OUR EYES AGAIN’: Dimitrios Pelkas. Picture credit: Hull City
He added: “It’s not a serious one, but we just need to see if he’s available for Saturday. It’s touch and go. Based on the scan he could be training tomorrow, he could not be.”
Connolly has scored twice in his five games for City.
Also in the injury front, Rosenior said attacking right-back Cyrus Christie was “fine” and had trained today.
The Tigers head coach said of the Norwich result: “Obviously, a disappointing evening for us. We went there full of confidence, we wanted to play our way, and we came up against a team who I thought were outstanding on the day in terms of their performance, and we couldn’t quite match those levels.
“So like I said straight after the game, it’s probably the first time since I’ve been here where I hold my hands up say there was a better team than us on the pitch. The most important thing now is that we react to it.
“This is what the Championship is - there’s no team in the league that goes through a season unbeaten, or goes through a season performing to the levels that it wants to, but the best teams react in the right way, and that’s what I’m looking for now.”
The Canaries defeat did at least give midfielder Dimitrios Pelkas a chance to get back into first-team action after a long lay-off through injury.
He said: “Yes, I was very happy when I came into the team because I miss playing football, I miss my team-mates, I miss my coach. My feeling was good when I started to play again after a long time, unluckily the result wasn’t what we expected. But it was a good lesson for us for the next game.”
Asked how he assessed the game, Pelkas, who is on a season-long loan from Turkish Süper Lig side Fenerbahçe, said: “We knew that we were playing a team that was last year in the Premier League, with good players, but I think we have to give a reaction for the next game, we have to put again the fire in our eyes, to give really one hundred per cent, because in that league you cannot be relaxed ever.”