Hull City show character as they head into the breach

As the Royal Shakespeare Company were preparing The Hypocrite – a comedic look at when King Charles I was locked out of the city gates as he tried to get his hands on its arsenal – at Hull Truck Theatre as part of UK City of Culture celebrations, the Tigers were attempting to break out of the relegation zone.

It looked as though they would when captain Tom Huddlestone converted a 72nd-minute penalty but the man who conceded the spot-kick for handling, Michael Keane, struck back four minutes later to give Burnley just their second away point of the season.

Tigers chief Marco Silva could easily have lifted the ‘Cry God for Harry, England and Saint George’ quote from Shakespeare’s Henry V such was his undoubted admiration for the efforts of Harry Maguire.

The central defender was left clutching his left knee after stretching for an attacking free-kick in the 35th minute and hobbled through the rest of the game, without shirking his duties.

In fact, he was up there for the corner which led to Hull’s penalty, Clarets chief Sean Dyche claiming he inadvertently pushed Keane’s arm into the path of the ball.

“What he showed today was fantastic,” said Silva. “He played the second half at 50 per cent of his capacity because of his injury in the knee. I hope it is nothing serious, he needs to rest a little bit. He is a fantastic boy, fantastic behaviour and it’s a good example for all. We need players like him.

“This is the character we need to take us on.”

In fact, Hull go once more into the breach against another Shakespeare, Craig, put in interim charge of fading champions Leicester, who were left in the bottom three due to Crystal Palace’s victory over Middlesbrough ahead of tonight’s game against Liverpool.

He could well still be at the helm when the Tigers come calling on Saturday not that Silva is concerned with capitalising on the Foxes’ controversial sacking of title-winning manager Claudio Ranieri.

“It’s better when you know what the opposition normallydo,” offered the Portuguese. “If they change some things in their behaviour and ideas of the team then we need to be ready for all situations.

“What we need to use against them is our work – to put our players at a good level to do our work the best. That is what we need to do.”

One player who is at his best is Hull captain Tom Huddlestone, accepting the responsibility of leadership with some fine defensive duties allied to his midfield play-making role and the spot-kick pressure.

“I was hoping it was the winning goal but you know what Burnley are like. They throw everything at you and it was disappointing to concede, especially from a set-piece,” he said of Keane’s equaliser, smashed home from the edge of the six-yard area after fellow central defender Ben Mee had challenged for a corner.

“Yeah, it feels like two points dropped. I thought, although it was not our best performance, we had the majority of the play. The manager is big on our set-pieces and it’s disappointing to concede in that fashion.”

Huddlestone agreed that a warm-weather training stint in Portugal after defeat to Arsenal had helped.

“I think it was important for the new signings. We signed a few in January and it was important for them to be around and isolated with us as team-mates to get to know each other. The manager was also able to stand his ideas on the team.”

One of the new arrivals determined to impress was Polish winger Kamil Grosicki following an acrimonious breakdown of his proposed summer move to the Clarets from Rennes.

Their loss is Hull’s gain judging by his sparky display on Saturday when Silva employed a new attacking formation with Shaun Maloney operating behind Dieumerci Mbokani and Ahmed Elmohamady on the other flank for Lazar Markovic, who took a knock in training.

Silva’s arrival last month has seen Hull capture eight points in the battle to stay up and Huddlestone continued: “There are five, maybe six, of us down there. We’re still in touch with Bournemouth and they won’t feel as comfy as they did a few weeks ago.

“I think the lads are going into the games confident, regardless of the opposition. The manager’s first few games were, on paper, ones where people would have written us off, but we managed to get some points.

“We’ve got a lot of games coming up against the teams around us so we need to keep performing and take maximum points.”

Looking at the Leicester game, he added: “I don’t know how the sacking will have affected them, to be honest. Normally, there’s a bit of a reaction when you get a new manager, so we’ll wait and see if they appoint anyone.

“It and the Swansea game (at the KCom on March 11) will be massive and will go a long way to deciding who goes down.”

Hull City: Jakupovic, Elabdellaoui (Hernandez 82), Ranocchia, Maguire, Robertson; Elmohamady, Huddlestone, N’Diaye, Grosicki; Maloney (Meyler 67); Mbokani (Niasse 67). Unused substitutes: Marshall, Diomande, Tymon, Bowen.

Burnley: Heaton, Lowton, Keane, Mee, Ward; Boyd, Westwood (Tarkowski 85) Barton, Brady (Arfield 89); Barnes, Gray (Vokes 85). Unused substitutes: Robinson, Flanagan, Darikwa, Agyei.

Referee: M Atkinson (W Yorks).