The race for the Premier League is the most thrilling in years with just three points separating leaders Stoke City from fifth-placed Watford.

The Tigers are sitting fourth in the table, level on points with the Hornets, but with a game in hand on all their rivals apart from West Brom.

Both City and the Baggies are in action tomorrow night – at Barnsley and Wolves respectively – and a victory for Phil Brown's side will be enough to propel them into the top two with just three games remaining, regardless of the result at Molineux.

Ricketts, who has to be a major contender for Hull's Player of the Year after an impressive campaign, admits dropping two points in the 1-1 draw with QPR at the KC Stadium was frustrating. But, the Welsh international insists the weekend's other results – where only Stoke of the top five claimed maximum points – has left the race wide open.

He said: "I would not say drawing against QPR has done massive damage. It is still in our own hands as we are the team who can win four games and go up. It is as simple as that.

"I think going into the last game of the season, there will still be four and possibly five teams still in with a chance of automatic promotion. There is a long way to go yet.

"It possibly brings a bit more pressure to Tuesday. But we were always going to go to Barnsley looking to win anyway."

City will make the trip to South Yorkshire buoyed by rescuing a point against QPR courtesy of a last-gasp equaliser by Michael Turner. He struck in the first of five alloted minutes of stoppage time to cancel out a controversial first-half goal from Rangers striker Dexter Blackstock.

It was linesman Graeme Atkins who ruled that the ball had crossed the line in the 14th minute after Blackstock had bundled a shot goalwards only for replays to indicate Andy Dawson had cleared the danger in time.

QPR manager Luigi De Canio admitted afterwards that his side had been "lucky" to go ahead, a sentiment Ricketts readily agreed with.

He said: "It was not over the line, that was my initial reaction. Our goalkeeper (Boaz Myhill) has also seen it a couple of times on video since and he said it was not over the line. I have not seen it, but I will take his word on that. It was hugely frustrating for it to be given because we do not concede many goals.

"But I think the togetherness we have in the squad came through. We kept plugging away and got another late goal. We have had a few of them this season. It was not our best game and we know we can play better, but the main thing is we didn't lose. We showed a lot of desire and commitment to hit back.

"It was not our best game and we know we can play better, but the main thing is we didn't lose."

Despite dropping two points against QPR, Hull's fate is still in their own hands with four wins from the remaining quartet of games being enough to guarantee a place in the top two.

Manager Phil Brown admits to being happy with his side's current position.

He said: "If you had said to me at the start of the season, 'there will be four games to go when you go to Barnsley knowing that a win will put you in the top two' then I would have taken it.

"Any manager would have taken that scenario. And that is what the scenario is."

On the QPR result, the Tigers manager added: "We showed the desire and determination not to get beat. There is some heart in that changing room. Our second-half performance was good enough to get something but the important thing when you are not at your best is that you get something out of it."