Liam Rosenior’s confident Hull City claim must come true in Championship play-off fight
The Tigers are back in action after three weeks without a Championship game.
Just nine games remain for Hull City to clinch a place in the top six and Liam Rosenior’s claim that his side are built to peak at this time of the season must come true.
City play twice over the Easter weekend with Stoke City first up on Good Friday followed by what on paper at least looks like a tantalising, if not testing trip to Elland Road to face leaders Leeds United on Monday evening.
Stoke are just two points above the drop zone and have lost 10 games on the road this season. They were beaten 3-0 at home by City ‘s play-off rivals Norwich last time out and while they’re not lacking in quality in their squad, something clearly hasn’t been right this term. We’re not in must-win territory yet with 27 points to play for, but we’re in that period where home games are an opportunity that cannot be passed up. Just three will remain after this.
At home, City have won just once in 10 games, 11 if you include the Birmingham City FA Cup tie, and there’s an acceptance from within the club that things need to sharpen up in front of their own supporters, Tan Kesler said as much in an interview with Hull Live during the training camp in Antalya. Rosenior’s not daft and nor are his players. They understand the need to start winning games in front of their own supporters, and though the Potters will be a tough nut to crack, opportunities are running out and this is a big opportunity.
While Rosenior, his staff and players might not be keen to talk about what other clubs are doing and instead prefer to focus on themselves and what they can affect – and rightly so – a quick glance at Norwich’s fixtures over the Easter weekend makes for interesting reading. The Canaries host struggling Plymouth before travelling to Leicester. Given their home form at Carrow Road coupled with Plymouth’s sharp descent down the table, you’d be hard-pushed to make a case for anything but a home victory, though the caveat to that is it’s the Championship, and this time of the season does conjure up some bizarre results.
