Hull have to be realistic – Phelan

Mike Phelan insists Hull City must remain “realistic” despite maintaining their 100 per cent start to the Premier League season with a 2-0 win at Swansea City on Saturday.

Shaun Maloney came off the bench to inspire Hull in a tight match, bundling in the first goal from a corner and then teeing up Abel Hernandez to seal the points in injury time.

The result boosts caretaker manager Phelan’s chances of being offered the Hull job on a permanent basis, following on from last weekend’s win over champions Leicester City, but he played down the team’s strong start to the season.

“We still are short on numbers and have to be realistic,” he said. “It was a tremendous performance and the character of the group has been brilliant from day one.

“The difficulty to come here was to see if we could go after them or contain them. The players stuck to their task and we created more chances than them.

“You have to take credit sometimes. We only have 13 senior players fit and it was an opportunity to get Shaun Maloney out there and it was a bit of a gamble. It paid off, especially for him.”

Phelan’s men had to defend for most of the game but they struck twice in the last 11 minutes to take all three points, and the Hull manager revealed he wants to add to his squad before the transfer window closes.

“There are two sides to a game of football, in and out of possession,” Phelan said. “We knew what Swansea would do with the ball and it was about conserving energy.

“We wanted to get to 75 minutes and kick on form there, it worked really well.

“There have been disturbances and upheaval at the club but the players have seen through that and been professional. It is only two games and there is a long way to go.

“Hopefully we will be doing some business in the next week, we have to.”