Defiant Grant McCann insists Hull City are 'still doing a lot of things right' following Ipswich Town defeat

Tuesday's 1-0 reverse at the hands of the Tractor Boys saw the Tigers fail to score on home soil for the third consecutive match and was their fourth defeat in eight League One outings.

Having won just one of their last six and taken only five points in that time, their title challenge is stuttering badly. Now third in the table having played two games more than both leaders Peterborough United and second-placed Lincoln, even City's hopes of achieving automatic promotion look slim.

Fearful that their team's season is going to fall apart in similar fashion to the spectacular disintegration which saw them relegated from the Championship last term, Hull fans were not shy about voicing their discontent in the wake of another poor performance.

McCann is however remaining defiant and says that he and his players should be judged after 46 games, not 31.

"We are third in the league, there's 15 games to go. We are the highest scorers in the league, we've kept more clean-sheets than probably nearly everyone in the league. I think this is the first time in 10 years that we've got two forwards in double-figures. I think we are doing a lot of things right," the Northern Irishman said.

"I think a lot of people focus on too much negativity at times and I understand that. Fans pay their money and they are right to have an opinion and a pop at us when we lose games. That's fine, we are all big enough to accept that.

"But, we know that there is a long way to go. What happened last season, happened last season, we've been written off from day one this season by everybody, and we're in third place.

"Yes, we've played a couple of games more than everybody else, but those teams have still got to play those games and we've still got to play some of the teams up and around the top of the league.

"Judge as at the end of the season, the league is 46 games, let's see where we are then."

Adamant though he is that there is no cause for panic regarding Hull's recent form, McCann did concede that the Tigers' performance against Ipswich was unacceptable.

Having fallen behind to James Norwood's 15th-minute strike, City failed to muster a single shot on target as they sought a way back into the contest against their mid-table visitors.

”It’s difficult to find any positives," Hull's head coach admitted.

"Performance-wise, we were poor. We didn't get going, we were lacklustre, we didn't move the ball as quick as we'd like. We weren't good enough.

"We've been done off a soft goal, a disappointing goal for us from one long ball where we've been caught napping a little bit.

"But, saying all that, we still had the best two chances of the game that both fell to young Keane [Lewis-Potter]. Usually he'd pass them into the corner and he's missed the target.

"So, it's a frustrating night for us. We got punished and we deserved to get punished because we were nowhere near where we can be."