Ola Aina has blamed himself and his teammates following Hull City's 3-1 loss to Middlesbrough in their latest game in the EFL Championship, saying the strikers were not able to convert their chances and the defenders made mistakes.

The Nigeria international left-back has now started 30 out of a possible 32 games for the Tigers, having gone the distance against Boro at the Riverside Stadium.

''We knew it would be a tough game and we went with a game plan – it was set up for us to perform but we didn’t do that to a standard that is suitable to win a game, ''said Aina to Hull City's official website.
 
''We weren’t ruthless in the final third and there were a few mistakes at the other end that have cost us.

''Match stats are irrelevant if you’re not winning. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb. We kept going but at 3-1 down we’re chasing the game.

''We lost the game and everybody is majorly disappointed. We felt as though the system that we played could be an exciting one. We haven’t played it for a while and there were glimpses of good play, but we haven’t got that much time and we need to start winning games somehow.''

Ola Aina is expected to be named in the Super Eagles roster for their upcoming friendlies against Poland and Serbia in March but had not yet received an invitation from the Nigerian Federation as at last week.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel