Silva calls for calm after Hull lose to Sunderland

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With relegated Sunderland dealing a blow to Hull City's survival hopes, Marco Silva has encouraged his side to play with less tension.

Marco Silva believes Hull City must "rest and analyse" after a nervy display against already relegated Sunderland resulted in a potentially costly 2-0 defeat.

The Portuguese had not previously lost a home league fixture with any club since 2014, but goals from Billy Jones and Jermain Defoe dragged Hull further towards the Premier League drop zone.

"It's disappointing. We had chances to score in many moments of the game," he told BBC Sport.

"Ultimately there was big tension in some of the team. We need to be calm in some moments. When you don't do this you start to lose focus and we conceded two from set-pieces.

"Now is the moment to rest and analyse. It's an important moment for us. We didn't achieve what we wanted from the match but we have two more games."

Hull repeatedly tested Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, but could find no way through, with his manager David Moyes comparing the 23-year-old to England's Joe Hart.

"We got a couple of goals today and, of course, have a very fine young goalkeeper who made a couple of key saves," he said. "I remember a young Joe Hart when he started - at Everton we were really keen to sign him from Shrewsbury. 

"That's a young Jordan Pickford. He makes saves and comes for crosses and has saved us points throughout the season.

"But honestly, I expect this level of performance from him on a regular basis - that's how highly I think of him."