Hull City on right course for promotion, insists Michael Dawson

With just one loss since the calendar flipped to 2016, Hull have put themselves firmly in the promotion hunt – currently lying second in the table just a point behind leaders Burnley as they look to bounce straight back into the top flight after last season’s relegation.

A 0-0 draw with Sheffield Wednesday last Saturday did derail them slightly, allowing the likes of Burnley, Middlesbrough and Brighton to gain ground.

But while Tigers club captain Dawson insists he wouldn’t trade their current position with anyone, he acknowledges that they must now push on and seal the deal.

“We’re definitely on track to achieve what we want to at the moment and we’ve put ourselves a great position with our performances,” said the 32-year-old.

“You have your ups and downs like any season, wherever you’re at you don’t win every game but we’re in good form.

“I fancy us to get promotion I’ll tell you that much. I just hope we’re one of the two and I wouldn’t like to pick one of the others as a favourite to go up.

“If you win your own games it’s up to you but if you don’t then it gives someone else a chance.

“You saw that last weekend, where they all won apart from us but we’re ready to come back and put a little bit of pressure back on all the other teams at the top.”

Dawson was speaking as Capital One launched the inaugural National Playground Football Day On March 1 at five schools around the country, including St Mary’s College in Hull.

Dawson joined St Mary’s pupils for a match as the day aims to encourage the next generation of schoolchildren to get outside for a lunchtime kick-about whilst building upon the academic and social benefits that come with regular exercise.

And while the centre-back is desperate to be playing in the Premier League once again next season and while he is confident of ultimately doing just that, he believes the promotion race will go down to the wire.

“We’re on track and in with a great shout for promotion but so are other teams like Middlesbrough, Burnley and Brighton – I feel they are probably our biggest challengers,” added Dawson.

“There are other teams trying to fight for automatic promotion but realistically it’s out of us four and it won’t be easy to get past them.

“There is still a lot of football left though – I think it’s 13 more games that we have to play, so there are an awful lot of points to play for and we’ve got to be focusing week in and week out.”

Hull City defender Michael Dawson is supporting Capital One’s National Playground Football Day, encouraging schools across the country to celebrate with a lunchtime kick-about. To find out more visit facebook.com/CapitalOneUK