United loanee Di'Shon Bernard praised by outgoing boss for clean sheets
Manchester United loanee Di’Shon Bernard has been praised for helping Hull City keep back-to-back clean sheets against two of the best Championship sides.
Fresh after beating promotion challengers Blackburn Rovers 2-0 at the KCOM Stadium, where Bernard was awarded man of the match, the Tigers beat another top of the league side Bournemouth 1-0 at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday.
In those games, Bernard came up against the league’s second and third top goalscorers in Ben Brereton Diaz (20) and Dominic Solanke (18).
But the East Yorkshire side’s defence was not breached in either encounter which drew high praise from their manager Grant McCann.
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Speaking via the club’s official website, McCann said: “Defensively this season, we’ve been strong.
“We conceded quite a lot of goals in the early part of the season from set-plays. In open play, all season, we’ve been quite strong defensively.
“It’s two clean sheets in the space of a few days, against second and third in the division, against one centre-forward who has got 20 goals (Blackburn’s Ben Brereton Diaz) and another who has got 18 (Solanke).
“I’m really pleased with our three young centre-halves (Di’Shon Bernard, Sean McLoughlin and Jacob Greaves) who have come through the week very well.”
HullLive gave Bernard a 9/10 for his performance against Scott Parker’s Cherries and he was lauded for his “stellar display” in the second half.
However, despite winning back-to-back matches against the league’s second and third-placed sides, McCann look set to be sacked by the new owner.
Turkish businessman Acun Ilicali completed his £20m takeover of the Tigers on Wednesday and was unveiled in front of a jubilant crowd before their Championship clash against Blackburn Rovers.
TalkSPORT football correspondent Alex Crook is expecting McCann to be sacked today, but there has been no official announcement yet.
According to HullLive, McCaan took training for what’s expected to be the final time this morning.
McCann, who has been head coach of the Tigers for the last two-and-a-half years, was expected to be relieved of his duties in a meeting on Monday with Shota Arveladze, the ex-Rangers and Ajax striker, replacing him ahead of Saturday’s showdown with Swansea City.
With McCann’s time at Hull drawing to an end, Bernard will be hoping to retain his place in the starting line-up under a new manager.
The Manchester United youngster has made 23 appearances so far this season, 22 of which have been starts.
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