Hull City pledge to "get to bottom" of reports Sheffield United's Kyron Gordon was racially abused during match

The game was halted for some time in the second half as Gordon, an unused substitute, returned from warming up and spoke to boss Paul Heckingbottom, a security official and fourth official Bobby Madley, before the alleged incident was reported to referee Matt Donohue.

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United representatives spoke with Donohue and his colleagues after the game, with Heckingbottom praising the referee for his handling of the situation and the "empathy" he had for Gordon - whose brother, Tyler Smith, plays for Hull and came off the bench for the home side in their 2-0 defeat.

"As a club we are investigating the incident," a Hull spokesperson said after the game, "and are speaking to the referee, security staff and Sheffield United.

"We will get to the bottom of it."

After goals from Oli McBurnie and Sander Berge sent his side top of the table, Heckingbottom outlined the situation from his perspective.

“When the lads were warming up, there were allegations of racist abuse,” he said.

"The boys heard these and reported them.

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“We’ve just been in with the officials now and they’ll follow the process. We reported it properly. Matt was great and showed good empathy for Kyron.

“It is disappointing. We are talking about two young players here. There’s no place for it. I am not speaking bad here about Hull supporters, I am thinking about football in general.

“We know there is no place for it. It’s not nice. We’ll follow the process, we have gone through the right channels. We will see what happens.”

By all accounts,” the United manager added, “it wasn’t hidden. It was blatantly obvious.”

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