City simply must halt the Tractor Boys
TIGERS HAVE TO SHRUG OFF HOME STRUGGLES
Hull City play their latest “biggest game of the season” tonight when Liam Rosenior’s men host Ipswich Town at the MKM Stadium in what will be their final home outing of the regular season. “The regular season” being the key word in that sentence, because Rosenior, his players and supporters will hope that there will be one more to come after the Tractor Boys have departed East Yorkshire, hopefully with their tails planted firmly between their legs.
For that possibility to have any chance of becoming a reality, City will need to do something they haven’t managed at home all season, and that’s beat a team in the Championship’s top eight at the MKM Stadium.
In their previous home outings, City have drawn against Leicester, Leeds, West Brom and Coventry, losing to Southampton and Norwich with Ipswich the final one of those clubs to challenge the Tigers.
That record will have to be punctured if the
Tigers are to keep their play-off dream alive, and it’s one they can be positive about, because in each of those games, Rosenior’s side have had chances to win the game, or certainly not lose in the case Southampton and Norwich.
It’s been well-documented that City’s home form this season hasn’t been good enough and is the sole reason they find themselves outside the play-offs looking in with wishing eyes, rather than being safely nestled inside and planning for the semifinals next month.
We are where we are, however, and despite being winless in games against their direct rivals, Rosenior’s side have tended to perform better when the better teams come and try to make a game of it, and that may well play into their hands tonight against an Ipswich outfit who know no other way.
Wednesday night’s dramatic and exciting win in Coventry has propelled them back into contention and while they still need help from elsewhere, City can end their regular campaign in front of their own supporters by doing themselves justice and replicating their results on the road, at home.