Hull City manager Grant McCann has stated that the reason Matthew Pennington didn't play during his side's FA Cup win over Rotherham, is because he needed a rest after the Christmas period.

The Tigers managed to comeback from a 2-1 deficit to defeat League One Rotherham in added time thanks to a hat-trick from striker Tom Eaves. It means that Hull will be in the hat for fourth round as they look to challenge some of the best sides in the competition.

Pennington was missing from the squad, and that worried supporters as they feared the centre-back may have picked up an injury. He'd been absolutely brilliant in recent weeks, and performed exceptionally in the victory over Sheffield Wednesday on New Year's Day.

McCann has expressed that he was stiff so it wasn't worth risking him for this fixture in the FA Cup.

Speaking to Hull Live, McCann said: “Penno is completely stiff as a board, so we didn’t risk him.

“He played 65 minutes at QPR, he played the full 90 minutes at Sheffield Wednesday.

“I spoke to Penno and he said, ‘I wouldn’t do myself any justice if I played’, so we took the decision to completely leave him and rest him.”

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The Verdict

Pennington has been slowly improving as the season has gone on, and now he's been exceptional in keeping his place and producing some excellent defensive displays when called upon.

With Hull well in with a shout of a play-off place, it was definitely not worth risking the centre-half for a game that isn't top of the Tigers' aspirations for the season ahead.

They now head into a crucial run in the Championship where they'll be hoping to keep producing results like they have and earn themselves a top six finish come the end of the season.