Hull City v Cardiff: Steve Bruce plotting patient approach in bid to continue Tigers' home rule

Only Middlesbrough, with 32, have taken more points at home than Hull, whose nine wins from 12 outings, and 29 points out of 36, are providing the cornerstone to their promotion quest.

With back-to-back home assignments against Cardiff and Charlton, hopes are high that the Tigers will cement their top-two credentials even further by the end of Saturday’s action.

Hull have lost just once in their past 17 home matches in all competitions and while Bruce cannot define what the secret is behind this, he hopes that old habits die hard in the new calendar year.

Bruce, who has scoffed at talk of possibly selling Tom Huddlestone back to former club Derby, which he claims would be “madness” said: “You always need your home form to stack up if you’re going to be successful. That’s the same in any division.

“I couldn’t honestly tell you the reasons why our home form is so good. I wish we could match it away from home. Then we’d be practically unbeatable.

“We’ve got back-to-back home games coming up and we want to win them both if we can.

“That would be great. It’s never easy but our home form has been impeccable, so we need to keep it up. There’s no reason why we can’t.”

Bruce admits he has been given a “nice headache” ahead of tonight’s game by the performances of several of his supporting cast in Saturday’s 1-0 FA Cup success over Brighton.

Whatever side he fields, the Tigers’ chief will be preaching the importance of patience this evening, with a containment policy likely to come into the thoughts of Cardiff, given Hull’s imperious form at home.

Bruce added: “Teams coming here are trying to stop us, rather than trying to win the game.

“I think most teams would be delighted to come away with a draw.

“Sometimes you have to be a bit patient, but more often than not we’ve eventually found a way.”

Hull’s home league game with Brighton, scheduled for January 30, has been rearranged for February 16 (7.45pm).

Last six games: Hull WLWLWW, Cardiff WLLDWL.

Referee: S Duncan (Northumberland).

Last time: Hull 1 Cardiff 1; September 14, 2013; Premier League.