Head coach Sergej Jakirovic hailed Joe Gelhardt’s “special” qualities after his goal earned Hull a 3-2 win at home to Portsmouth – a victory that confirmed the Tigers’ place in the Sky Bet Championship play-offs heading into the international break.
The Leeds loan signing showed a moment of real quality after 77 minutes to bring down Charlie Hughes’ long ball and chip the ball over Pompey goalkeeper Josef Bursik.
Gelhardt, who was also on loan at Hull last season, has now scored five goals in his last six games.
Jakirovic said: “When I watched him in last season’s games, I begged Mr Chairman (Acun Ilicali) to bring him back here.
“He likes playing here and he wanted to come back here. He has a completely different profile to the players we have.
“He has the quality to play in a number of positions and is able to pass, shoot and has speed, which is special.
“He’s 23 years old and maybe he can reach the Premier League. But, right now, he’s made the difference.”
Gelhardt was, along with Kyle Joseph, guilty of missing good chances to open the scoring early in a breathless first half.
Terry Devlin gave the visitors the lead with a deflected strike from the edge of the area, but Enis Destan thrashed home Lewie Coyle’s right-wing cross to level the game after 27 minutes.
Joseph headed Hull in front, but Devlin made it 2-2 with a good header off Josh Murphy’s brilliant cross from the right.
The second half plateaued following the earlier drama, but Gelhardt had the final word for a Hull side who have lost once in their last eight matches.
When asked to rate his side’s start to the season out of 10, Jakirovic said: “Seven, because we have a lot of places where we can improve.”
Portsmouth were not short of endeavour but have now not won since October 4.
However, head coach John Mousinho refused to be too downcast by his side’s performance at the MKM Stadium.
He said: “It was, in large parts, positive, particularly the way we started, but the three goals we conceded were really poor.
“We didn’t have a huge amount of pressure in the second half, but we didn’t look exposed.
“We invited pressure in the way we handled the ball going forward. We were also a bit more defensively generous, but we have to take collective responsibility.
“If you look at the second half, for 35 minutes we looked very, very solid, but the goal changes the game.
“Objectively, on that performance, it’s two steps forwards two steps backwards.
“It (the international break) is good for us as we get players back for the Millwall game – maybe it’s just been a bit too much for the squad of late.”
