O'Connor had turned up at St Andrews on Friday feeling extremely ill and McLeish advised him to head to the KC Stadium by car rather than run the risk of passing on the bug to other players on the team coach. "Garry O'Connor was on his sick-bed. He'd been ill with sickness. He was off Thursday and came in Friday. I told him to do a quick jog for 20 minutes, and he came in after 10 and said he was burst," McLeish revealed after the 1-0 win against The Tigers. "The puppy-dog eyes were there, looking for me to tell him he could go home. "When he came on you wouldn't have thought you were looking at a guy who had been ill, because he was very, very sharp."
The Blues striker did not make the starting eleven but came off the bench just after the hour mark to score the all-important goal which earned Blues their first away win in the League this season
I told him, you need to come to Hull, don't come on the bus, you can come in a car and have a single room. I really needed him.
"Garry came down this morning bright and bubbly, devoured his breakfast and told me he was available.