It’s exciting, I’m not going to lie - Kesler
VICE-CHAIRMAN LOOKS FORWARD TO RUN-IN
Hull City return to action on Friday afternoon after the luxury of a three-week break which saw Liam Rosenior’s men head off to Antalya for a training camp. The Tigers face Stoke City in front of another sell-out MKM Stadium crowd looking to close the gap on Norwich who leapfrogged City last weekend to move three points clear after thumping the Potters at the bet365 Stadium.
City’s last outing came in the thrilling 2-2 draw with then-leaders Leicester at the MKM Stadium, a result which extended their unbeaten run to seven games, but also means Rosenior’s side have won just once at home in the league since the turn of the year, and found killing teams off difficult.
It’s that run of form without a flurry of victories in front of their own supporters that has generated the biggest concern amongst City’s paying public, and Kesler hopes his team will find the clinical edge that they’ve been lacking in recent weeks, buoyed by the growing groundswell of support from the terraces.
“It’s exciting, I’m not going to lie,” Kesler said in conversation with the Mail ahead of the final nine games.
“We haven’t been in this position before, the chairman and myself, and that’s why we’re so excited – so is our coach.
“That’s the beauty of it. There are some key things that concern us, like our home performance.
“We all agree we play good football but we can’t (always) kill the game but it’s the least concern when you’re the most dominant team on the pitch and unable to kill the game because we have young players.
“The chairman is excited and so am I. We know the boys have done amazingly well and they understood what they need to do to be a play-off team, they’ve delivered it over and over in away games and we’re just trying to find the same home performance. It’s more mental than physical, I’d say. On the pitch everything can be improved but we’re right there mentality-wise.
“I hope our fans come regardless and just fill it up. I think we put on a very good show against Leicester.
“We lost our concentration for a minute and a parachute-payment team just punished us but we walked away with our heads up, the boys did everything we asked.
“I want our fans to consistently share those moments.
“This may never happen again so I want our fans to be part of it. It’s not about us and our sustainability, English football’s future may change things.
“I want our fans to give those boys the proper support so they feel they can kill those games as well.”