Phelan: ‘Maybe I should stay away from Sunderland’

Mark Scott
Mike Phelan: Sunderland are a curse

Mike Phelan: Sunderland are a curse

Hull City boss Mike Phelan joked that Sunderland have placed a curse on him after witnessing a heavy 3-0 defeat at the Stadium of Light.

Hull started the game on the front foot, but were hit by Defoe’s 34th-minute strike and, after the unscheduled break, succumbed to Anichebe’s double.

Phelan said: “A few things seem to happen to me at this football club when I come. I came here with one club and we had issues in the dressing room one year, then the lights go out… Maybe it’s just me, maybe I should stay away from this club for a while.

“There was no doubt about the game. The referee conducted himself right. He was a little bit concerned about the ground being only partially lit, but at the end we needed to get the game going and the supporters demanded that.

“It probably changed the game a little bit at one point.”

“It was all the emotions in one game today, frustration from the point of view that we didn’t take the opportunities that came our way – and there were quite a few from our point of view – attacking-wise.

“But then the annoyance. The disappointment is that you lose a game 3-0, which is very difficult to defend with a team that you believe in and actually probably over all deserved a little bit better.”