Player welfare is paramount, says Tigers’ Mccann
CITY BOSS EXPLAINS WHY INGRAM WAS LEFT ON THE BENCH AGAINST CHARLTON
The welfare of Hull City’s players remains paramount, says Grant Mccann, as the Tigers boss explained why Matt
Ingram was left on the substitutes’ bench for Saturday’s 2-0 win over Charlton.
Ingram had been a mainstay of City’s promising start to the season, but the head coach opted instead to start George Long for the first time in the league this season, who kept a clean sheet.
Prior to the visit of Lee Bowyer’s men, Mccann’s squad had been ravaged by coronavirus resulting in last Tuesday’s game with Lincoln being called off, and some doubt whether or not this match would take place.
“Matt hasn’t left his home for 10 days, and only did some very light work in training on Friday,” said Mccann.
“We didn’t want to take a risk with him - and the reason I can speak about him is because I’ve got his consent to do so - he’s done very little.
“He’s been isolating and hasn’t been feeling too well.
“When the rest of the team has been training, Matt hasn’t, and I don’t need to take the risk with Matt because his health is more important than anything.
City were without Callum Elder, James Scott, Reece Burke and Josh Magennis for the win over their promotion rivals, and while Mccann was unable to comment on those players specifically due to player confidentiality, he did highlight the difficult preparations leading up to the game.
“I can’t name them and I haven’t got consent to speak about them and I’m not sure they’d want me to do that anyway. It was difficult.
“We went into the game without five players from the last game, so this is a testament to our squad depth and the lads’ focus on getting the job done.
“The lads who have contracted the virus are on the mend and we’re hoping to have them back on Monday or Tuesday.
“It’s a difficult time for everyone, we’ve got a mandatory round of testing on Tuesday.
“We’ve put in more restrictions in at the training ground about what we can and can’t do at the training ground and the lads are following it to a tee, so we’ve got to keep on top of that.”