I was not 'professional' enough admits Hull City striker & ex-Middlesbrough loanee Aaron Connolly

To the Hull City loanee's credit, he is not about to look for excuses and admits that he has himself to blame in many respects.

The Irishman turns 23 on Saturday and is no longer a kid.

He finds himself in East Yorkshire in search of redemption and a confidence boost after a few fallow seasons.

Back in 2021-22, Connolly flattered to deceive during a loan spell up the North Sea coast at Middlesbrough.

He netted twice in 21 appearances for the Teessiders and a temporary stint in the first half of the current campaign in Italian football at Serie B side Venezia, where he soon fell down the pecking order, was also underwhelming.

Connolly now finds himself at Hull under someone who knows well from his time at Brighton at Liam Rosenior.

His last competitive goal in English football came last March and to say he could do with a goal is a major understatement.

Not that his time in Italy was completely wasted. Far from it.

He said: "It is a massive point in my career. I am 23 and playing in the Premier League regularly when I was 19 seems a long time ago. That is down to me.

"I have not been professional enough.

"But now that mindset has completely flipped and if I can take anything positive from that Italy move, it is definitely that side of the game - off the pitch.

"I have got used to being in a different environment with the work. There's a lot of running in Italy and I am starting to enjoy that bit of it as well with the gym work and the professional side off the pitch.

"As much as it did not go well on the pitch, I always like to take little things from the pitch and off the pitch, it helped me massively.”

Handed his first start in the EFL since Good Friday in Hull's narrow loss at Sheffield United on Friday, Connolly missed a big early chance after being sent clear by City top-scorer Oscar Estupinan.

But he won't be beating himself up about it, that said.

He continued: "I was gutted I could not put that chance away in the first half, but I am sure if I can keep working hard, those chances will come again and I will tuck them away.

"It's what every striker needs. (Wes) Foderingham made a decent save, but I was pleased with the partnership with Oscar, which we are trying to get going.

"With the way he played me, I can see that, hopefully, we will create more chances for each other.

"Eventually one will go in, but I am not going to get too cut up and put too much pressure on myself.

"I have done it before and waited 18, 19 and 20 games.

"It will happen naturally. As long as I keep getting chances, I will put them away.

"The performance was there (at Sheffield United) and I am sure if we perform like that in the next 18 games, there's no reason why we cannot push on for the top six. We can take a lot from it and the gaffer set us up well.

"It was a spirited performance at a place like this. I came here last year with Middlesbrough and we got beaten 4-1 and we put a much better account of ourselves and we were unfortunate that we could not have got a point at least out of it.

"I have missed that (buzz) in the last few months and being abroad is different.

"I have enjoyed coming back to England and the training and playing at places like Bramall Lane.”