Hull City are hoping the injury suffered by Tyler Morton in the first half of Saturday’s dramatic 2-1 win over Huddersfield Town was simply a shock injury.
The influential on-loan Liverpool midfielder suffered a kick to the ankle early in the game and was able to play for some time, but was sent off after the half-hour mark and replaced by Matty Jacob. Regan Slater moved back into midfield at right-back.
City have since felt the absence of Morton keenly, but manager Liam Rosenior hopes the issue can be resolved in the coming days ahead of Tuesday night’s game against automatic promotion contenders Southampton.
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“Tyler got kicked in the ankle and it’s swollen. Too swollen. I’m not happy about it, but I’m glad it’s not a muscular injury. It’s just a matter of controlling the pain, which I hope. “Let the swelling go down,” the city chief told Hull Live.
Rosenior, who had selected his team thanks to Jacob Greaves’ 2-1 win, started Ozan Tufan in midfield and Regan Slater at right-back, before Morton was sent off and Slater returned to midfield. Matty Jacob came on as a substitute. Right behind you. Lewie Coyle started on the bench due to a hamstring issue and was drafted into the game late in the game.
“Remember when I left Coley out against Swansea?” Rosenior continued. “He was a bit unwell, more down to fatigue, but we can’t risk him in a three-game week and we had to find a way. Regan is really good at right-back. I thought we had a match.” And obviously Tyler went down. I was thinking about putting Adama (Traore) in there, but I felt we needed a more energetic type of midfield player because Huddersfield are playing with so much energy. Regan was that, so I’m talking about Matty Jacob, who I believe in from the performance of the right-back that I brought in.
“Sorva Thomas is right-footed and Matty Jacob is left-footed, so it’s a good matchup defensively. These are all decisions that have to be made on the fly and Matty did a great job against one of our most in-form wingers. I think we did that in the league. ”
However, City will be encouraged by the return of Jean-Michael Seri to the club’s Cottingham training ground on Monday, after his impressive career with Ivory Coast, winning the Africa Cup of Nations.