Given how far Hull City have come since their relegation from the Championship last season, it would be fair to say that Grant McCann may have been a little harsh on his team in his post-match press conference.
The sign of a good team - if you believe the old adage - is that you can win when you don’t particularly play well, and that is something that rings true when you look at the performance from the Tigers against AFC Wimbledon.
Disciplined, physical and well-organised, it was always going to be a tough ask for Hull City to get the win they needed to go top of the division, and with Doncaster Rovers upsetting previous league leaders Ipswich Town, that is something that will be an added bonus for McCann’s side.
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“We were just off it tonight”
"We weren’t at the races tonight," McCann said in his post-match press conference. "I could never fault the player’s commitment, attitude and endeavour in terms of their desire to defend their goal, but we were just off it tonight“.
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”When we got in the attacking third it just fizzled out”
One thing McCann bemoaned was his side’s play in the final third. He told the press, "In terms of our own general play we had just too many lacklustre passes, too many loose touches. When we got in the attacking third it just fizzled out”.
McCann certainly does have a point with his frustration, as chances in the second half particularly for Reece Burke and Tom Eaves perhaps could have seen the Tigers win by a more comfortable margin.
He continued, "We kept the ball reasonably well in the first half in our own defensive third, but when we got into the attacking third it just seemed to break down“.
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”It was nice to see Keano get another goal”
"We didn’t seem to have too many answers in trying to get that goal”, McCann added. "We’ve scored another set play goal, another great ball from Callum Elder and it was nice to see Keano get another goal”.
Indeed, it was league goal number three and a fourth in all competitions for the young Hull City striker Keane Lewis-Potter, who has started the season superbly well on the left-hand side and has shown a real predator’s instinct throughout. It was no different against Wimbledon - he was in the right place at the right time to score from Jacob Greaves’ acrobatic effort in the last minute of injury time in the first half.
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“We’ve still got a lot to do”
McCann will be under no illusions that League One will be a walk in the park. One only has to look back two weeks to see his side humbled at the hands of Fleetwood Town, but the Northern Irishman was quick to point out his side still have a lot to do if they are to make their first season in the third tier of English football mirror the 2004/05 season when they went up into the Championship at the first time of asking under Peter Taylor.
"We've got a lot to do, we know that, it's only early into the season but we've started it quite well,” McCann finished.