Cardiff manager Steve Morison bemoans ‘horrendous’ start as Hull ensure Championship survival

Cardiff manager Steve Morison felt an “horrendous” start to the game led to the visitors’ demise against the Tigers.

He said: “I’m not going to focus on it (the first half). I want to focus on the second half because I don’t want to create any unnecessary headlines.

“We did a hell of a lot better in the second half. Did we deserve anything from it? Maybe on the balance of chances, yes.

“I’m really pleased with the second half – the lads carried out our orders in the second half.

“Take the first 10 minutes out of the game and we got it spot on – it’s just so annoying that it goes so wrong so quickly.”

Morison wants to finish the season strongly but is already planning for what will be a big summer for the club.

He said: “You play this sport to love winning and you find it really difficult to be positive about losing.

“We’ve just got to keep working hard as a football club – we’ve got a huge game on Monday (at home to Luton).

“It will hopefully be a really good summer and we’re really looking forward to the start of next season. It will be an exciting time and I’m thoroughly looking forward to it.

“But, fundamentally, we’ve got five games to go and we want to pick up as many wins as we can.”

Relief

Tigers head coach Shota Arveladze expressed relief after the 2-1 win confirmed Hull’s position in next season’s Sky Bet Championship.

Arveladze’s men are safe after early goals from Allahyar Sayyadmanesh and Lewie Coyle earned the Tigers three points.

Aden Flint scored a late header for Cardiff, but Hull calmly held on to end a run of six successive home defeats.

Arveladze said: “Now we can say definitely (Hull are staying up), it’s good.

“It’s lovely and it’s good for the coach and the players – it was great for us and them.

“The first half was absolutely good. In the second half, we gave the ball away a little bit but we have to give credit to them for changing the system.

“Sometimes, mistakes cost you games, but this time we took our chances and the mistake we made didn’t cost us the game.

“We had similar games when we got nothing. This was the opposite. We closed well, got our chances and we could have killed the game early in the second half.

“They risked more with an extra striker, but we didn’t give much away and got the result we wanted.

“It was important to give our supporters that amazing feeling (of winning at home).”

Hull deserved three points by virtue of a rousing opening to the game, during which Sayyadmanesh scored his first goal for the club after eight minutes.

The Iran international admittedly could not miss following Mark McGuinness’ wayward backpass.

Cardiff then gifted another goal to Hull three minutes later when they failed to clear the lines inside their penalty area.

The resulting skirmish fell to Coyle, who swept home into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.

Flint offered hope for the visitors after 81 minutes with a powerful header from a corner but Cardiff did not do enough and were duly punished.

Hull’s poor home run provoked Arveladze to seek clearance from the EFL to change kits from traditional black-and-amber shirts to their black away jerseys.

The former Georgia international said: “We love our colours – our main colours – but we have done well in the black shirt away from home.

“Sometimes things are more easy than they are. It’s not about superstition, it’s about going to show what you can show on the pitch.”