Nigel Adkins pointed to the team ethic at Hull City as the reason behind their valuable victory against Nottingham Forest.
"It was only what we deserved"
It was just Adkins’ second league win since taking charge in early December but he believes that minimal success isn’t due to a lack of effort.
He explained, “it was great to win, the lads worked really hard for that. It was only what we deserved and I thought we were very good. Defensively we were resolute and Nottingham Forest didn’t have any chances.”
After playing 4-4-2 in recent matches, Adkins switched to one up front. On his tactical change, the Hull boss suggested, “I knew today that if we didn’t have enough bodies in the middle of the pitch we wouldn’t get any of the ball against a good Forest side.”
"I haven't looked at the league table"
Jon Toral opened the scoring moments after missing a penalty. Adkins added, “I felt for Jon when he didn’t score the penalty because he has had a chance in every game. It was great for Jon when he scored because he didn’t dwell on it.”
The Hull manager also claims he is not looking at the league table despite his side climbing out of the bottom three. “I haven’t looked at the league table, I didn’t realise we were out of bottom three. I have my own little league table behind the scenes with ten teams that are battling relegation. If we do better than them in the last games of the season then we will be OK.”
On the injury front, Adkins is looking forward to welcoming back Abel Hernandez in future matches after Will Keane made his first start in 15 months. He explained, "Abel looked fantastic in training yesterday. We have so many options available up front now."