United loanee Di’Shon Bernard named man of the match against Blackburn

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Manchester United loanee Di’Shon Bernard played a key role in ensuring Hull City’s reign under new ownership began with a win.

Turkish businessman Acun Ilicali completed his £20m takeover of the Tigers yesterday afternoon and was unveiled in front of a jubilant crowd before last night’s Championship clash against Blackburn Rovers.

Coming up against Ben Brereton Diaz, who has scored 20 Championship goals so far this season, Bernard would have been aware of the hiding his Manchester United teammate Teden Mengi endured for Birmingham, 24 hours prior to the clash, when he came up against a Fulham side containing Aleksandar Mitrovic, who has scored 27 goals in the Championship this season.

Bernard may have been a tad fortunate not to have conceded a penalty when he looked to have bundled over the Chilean striker inside the box, but the referee Thomas Bramall instead waved play-on.

The United youngster came to Grant McCann’s side rescue after 37 minutes with an excellent out-stretched goal-line clearance.

The 21-year-old was initially outpaced by Reda Khadra who had time and space to score once goalkeeper Nathan Baxter made a hash of clearing the long ball.

But Khadra’s goal-bound effort was deflected away for a corner by the athletic Bernard.

Hull won the game 2-0 which was a crucial three points in their quest to beat the drop. Rovers, who sit third in the Championship table came into the clash unbeaten in their last 10 league matches.

Di’Shon Bernard was awarded man of the match by SofaScore with a rating of 7.9.

The centre-back finished the match with 55 touches, three tackles, four interceptions, one clearance, as well as blocking two shots. He also won four duels.

With Hull travelling to Bournemouth on Saturday, Bernard could come up against his United teammate Ethan Laird for the second time this season, if the wing-back is fit enough to make his Cherries debut.

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