When the sides met in the west Midlands in mid-December, it was only Selles’ second game in charge of the bottom-of-the-Championship Tigers. Frank Lampard was in his fourth game as coach of the Sky Blues, 17th and nearer on points to Hull than the play-off places.

At kick-off on Monday, Hull will be 20th, knowing victory can open a five-point gap to the relegation zone with four games to play. That is the distance Coventry, now sixth, can put between themselves and the sides chasing the play-off places.

Both, then, have improved a great deal but in Hull’s case in particular, it feels like there is more to come. They have been threatening for some time to pull away from the bottom three, but have never won consecutive games under Selles.

“When we first played them it was a very difficult game for us, we only had three days to recover after only a couple of days in charge and playing Watford (in his first game),” recalls the Spaniard.

“We had a transfer window and we have been modifying the style of play and the way we use different shapes. We have been more consistent in our defensive moments, especially in the last couple of months.

“The team is very difficult to beat and is competitive every game. We are more competitive now than we were in that period.

“We have been in almost every game with a couple of exceptions, we’ve had the chances to win games consistently, we didn’t take it. I think it was a question of details but in training and the games they’ve given 100 per cent.

“Our approach is exactly the same as it was with 21 games to go – take care of our business, do our job properly the best we can, be our best version and adjust the gameplans to the opponent. But we stick to the plan of thinking about ourselves.

“That’s the only way we know about we can compete to win football matches. Our approach is going to be exactly the same, that’s how you stay calm, by doing the things you know how to do.”

Perhaps the difference in turning that threat into points is confidence for a team good enough to win at Millwall, Sheffield United and Sunderland, but who have lost to relegation rivals Stoke City, Cardiff City and Luton Town.

“It’s a little bit of different situations – the way we arrive into the final third, the spaces we create and how the opposition defend,” argues Selles. “It’s a little bit of everything.

“We are working to put them in better positions so the finishing will be more clean.

“The positional one and the behavioural one we will go into depth with each player individually. The more we can put them into positions we consider are better for them, the easier it will be for them if they have this lack of feeling (confidence) in the last moment.”

Gustavo Puerta is available after illness, whilst Lampard will be banned from the touchline.