Hull City can “fancy” their chances against any opposition after making it two wins from two in the Premier League, says striker Oliver McBurnie.
The Tigers secured an impressive 1-0 victory over Coventry City at the CBS Arena on Saturday, with Liam Millar scoring the decisive goal in the 82nd minute after Mohamed Belloumi set up a counter-attack.
Hull spent long periods defending and were forced to surrender possession, but goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis produced another assured display as Liam Rosenior’s side maintained their perfect start to life back in the top flight.
The result made Hull only the fourth promoted team to win their opening two Premier League matches. They had begun the campaign with a 2-0 victory over Manchester United the previous weekend.
“I think the boys have been excellent the last two games,” he said. “Today, we came in with a game plan. We knew Coventry are a good side.
“We played them twice last year; we know what they’re about. We had a gameplan and knew they’d have a lot of the ball.
“We just counted on them boys at the back being confident from wide areas, crossing, defending the box well.”
Tzolakis was particularly important in the first half, making an outstanding save to prevent Taiwo Awoniyi from scoring. Coventry, playing their first home Premier League match for 25 years, created few other clear opportunities.
The Greek goalkeeper had also helped Hull keep Manchester United out in their opening fixture. His second successive clean sheet means he is the first goalkeeper since David Raya in the 2021-22 season to record shutouts in a promoted side’s first two top-flight games. Raya achieved the feat with Brentford.
“‘The Cat [Tzolakis] in goal has been top since he’s come in,” McBurnie said of the Greek goalkeeper. “We fancy ourselves – whether it be a set-piece or a counter-attack.
“I think Liam was a bit disappointed with the first chance he had on the counter, and he showed big cojones to finish the second one off. Really happy for Liam and for the boys today.”
History suggests Hull have given themselves a strong platform, although their previous experience offers a warning. Only three teams have been relegated from the Premier League after winning their first two games, with Hull one of those sides in the 2016-17 season.
For Coventry manager Frank Lampard, the opening weeks of the campaign have brought the opposite outcome. His side have lost both of their matches since returning to the Premier League, following a 3-0 defeat away to champions Arsenal.
Saturday’s loss was also Lampard’s first run of consecutive league defeats without his team scoring since April 2023.
Coventry forward Awoniyi felt his side had been unlucky to come away without anything, while believing their approach had produced a convincing performance.
“The game plan was quite clear, to play with intensity and try to score goals as quickly as possible,” Awoniyi told BBC CWR.
“I think we were unlucky today and I think we were the better side, but unfortunately only the three points count.”
