Hull City struggling for fit strikers, says Mike Phelan
Saturday 3 December 2016 12:58, UK
Hull City go into Monday Night Football's fixture with Middlesbrough lacking a host of first-team strikers and manager Mike Phelan has name-checked 19-year-old Jarrod Bowen as a potential starter.
The Tigers travel to the Riverside with forward Dieumerci Mbokani starting a three-match ban following his red card in their EFL Cup quarter-final victory over Newcastle United on Tuesday.
Strikers Abel Hernanadez and Shaun Maloney are still short of fitness, while summer signing Will Keane has been ruled out for the rest of the season following knee surgery.
"He's [Hernandez] been doing all the pre-conditioning stuff ready to go back into training," Phelan said on Friday ahead of the clash, live on Sky Sports 1.
"So there's him and there's Shaun Maloney as well who's now going back out on the grass to do a bit of training.
"It is early. They have been out a while and we need to just monitor the next few days and see what's required and whether they're available."
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Bowen arrived at the club during the summer of 2014 from non-league Hereford United, and was called upon to make his Premier League debut off the bench in the defeat at Watford earlier in the season.
"We have options if Abel is not ready," said Phelan. "I have a good young player in Jarrod Bowen who could play that role.
"I've got [Adama] Diomande, who's a forward. I've got others who can play outside of their normal positions. There are things we can do. We could go with no centre forward. But we'll come up with something between now and Monday.
"Gamble's not the right word. If they're fit they're available, if they're not then there's no point in worrying too much about it.
"We may have to shuffle the pack a little bit, but we have got a couple of options.
"I need to sleep on it a little bit more and work out what we want to do. But we have a few days left to do that so that's okay."
Hull remain in the relegation zone following last weekend's 1-1 draw with West Brom at the KCOM stadium, but managed to secure passage through to the semi-final of the EFL Cup mid-week after hanging on against Championship leaders Newcastle and winning via a penalty-shootout.
Hull will now face Phelan's old employers in the shape of Manchester United in a two-legged EFL Cup semi-final.
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