Marco Silva is a manager who enjoys home comforts so the state of the KCOM Stadium pitch was an obvious concern despite another crucial victory in Hull's Premier League survival fight.
Silva, who went undefeated at home in consecutive seasons with Sporting Lisbon and Olympiacos, saw substitute Oumar Niasse's second-half brace continue the Yorkshire club's fine form on their own increasingly rutted turf.
And therein lies the problem. Bizarrely, this fixture was scheduled 17 hours after joint stadium tenants Hull FC finished a Super League match against St Helens, the pitch making it difficult to implement the intensity and fast-passing game Silva demands.