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Faced with one of the biggest moments in his career, Eldin Jakupovic ditched his preparation and relied on gut instinct.
Hull’s 32-year-old goalkeeper had studied videos of Dusan Tadic’s penalties and practised saving them with goalkeeping coach Hugo Oliveira.
But when referee Mike Dean awarded Southampton a last-minute penalty, Jakupovic ignored it all, dived to his left and saved the spot-kick to keep Hull’s Premier League survival hopes alive.
‘I did my homework with my goalkeeper coach,’ Jakupovic said. ‘To be fair I saw his last four or five penalties and he never finished like that. It was always higher and more in the middle.
‘I had to make the decision and the decision was perfect; my feeling, my stomach told me to go this side (to his left). You have to be lucky as well, because it was a vey good penalty. It was a mix of luck with feelings and finally we took the point.’
Losing would have been harsh on Hull; the tussle between Saints defender Maya Yoshida and Hull midfielder Alfred N’Diaye inside the area that Dean punished looked evenly contested and they deserved at least a point.
Jakupovic is Hull’s longest-serving player, having joined them in 2012, but he was either loaned out or second choice until Marco Silva arrived in January and made him No 1.
Hull’s manager explained why he opted for the Swiss ahead of David Marshall, who was preferred in the first half of the season.
‘It was a decision in a moment, when we had to make a decision,’ Silva said.
‘When he came, our first game was a cup game and we kept it the same way, we changed the keeper, played Eldin and he had a good performance, and we decided to keep the same goalkeeper for the moment.
‘David is a fantastic professional, very good goalkeeper, works very hard and helps a lot all the boys and Eldin as well. He has kept the focus in his work. Obviously I am happy with the performance of Eldin.’
That save alone has repaid the manager’s faith. Was it the most important spot kick save of his life?
Jakupovic pondered for a moment, replying: ‘Oh man! I’ve saved a lot of penalties in my career but this is for sure one of the main penalties. It was last-minute. We need every single point.
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