Hull City v Wolves - Momentum key as Tigers look to enjoy play-off triumph

The Tigers, in action tonight at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers, have fallen way off the pace in the chase for a place in the top two.

A run of just one win in eight outings plus the impressive recent form of Middlesbrough, Burnley and Brighton & Hove Albion means Hull’s best hope of promotion now rests via the play-offs.

Bruce recognises this and is determined that by the time the regular season ends on May 7, Hull will have rediscovered the momentum that, until recently, had made the East Riding club a good bet for an instant return to the Premier League.

“At the wrong time we have lost a bit of form,” said Bruce to The Yorkshire Post after a six-week slump that has taken the Tigers from top spot to fourth and 10 points adrift.

“It happens to the greatest clubs. This week, I watched Barcelona get knocked out of Europe and they haven’t won in four or five. And they are the best in the world.

“We didn’t want to go on this run but it has happened and it is a kick in the privates for all of us.

“We are probably the only team in the top six that is disappointed to be where we are. And rightly so.

“I thought we would give the sides above us a run for their money. I genuinely did.”

Bruce has won promotion to the Premier League three times in his managerial career. Until the recent slump, a fourth success seemed within touching distance and the challenge now is to lift his players sufficiently to end the regular season on a high.

Starting with the visit of Wolves, Hull have four of their last half dozen games at home and tonight Bruce plans to go back to basics.

After reviving the three-man defence at Huddersfield Town last weekend that helped clinch promotion three years ago, the Tigers are expected to revert back to 4-4-2.

Michael Dawson and Mohamed Diame are out injured, meaning Curtis Davies could return in defence along with Moses Odubajo after the right-back served a one-game ban in the 2-2 draw at the John Smith’s Stadium.

David Meyler is also recalled for his first appearance since the calamitous error that handed Arsenal their first goal in the FA Cup fifth round replay at the KC on March 8.

On the task facing Hull over these final six games, Bruce said: “First, we have got to secure our play-off place with two or three wins and also find a bit of form again.

“We have to bounce into the play-offs and get rid of the doom and gloom. If the play-offs are where we are going to be, we have to get ourselves ready.

“Usually, it is the team with a bit of form and momentum that comes out on top. The year I went up with Birmingham (in 2002), we hadn’t lost for 10 or 12 games going into the play-offs.

“Of course, there is an air of disappointment but we have to try and get rid of it. If we can do that, I am still convinced we will be okay.

“I look at the bottom end of the Championship, and see teams down there like Fulham, Nottingham Forest and Blackburn. We have to realise we have got no given right to go up.

“But what I would stress to everyone is that we have still got a fantastic chance of going up. We can be a threat to any team in this top six, whoever we get.

“It was only three weeks ago that we went to Middlesbrough and definitely didn’t deserve to get beat there. We were terrific for an away team, really unlucky (to lose in stoppage time).

“We didn’t deserve to lose at Burnley (in February), either. We also beat both of those teams convincingly at home.

“However, the flipside is we deserved a kicking at Derby and we have got that in our locker. That said, I would back us against any side in this division because I know we are capable.

“We have had an awful run at the wrong time but now we have got to try to find a bit of form and to do that, sometimes you have to go back to basics.”

Meyler will return to the midfield with a reputation as something of a talisman for the Tigers this season. Of his 17 starts in the league, 13 have been won while his half-dozen appearances from the bench have yielded four wins and two draws.

“David is a manager’s dream,” added Bruce. “I have had him for the best part of six years (at Hull and Sunderland) and recently he has had to be patient.

“Over the last couple of weeks, it has been in my mind to bring him back because of what he gives you. He gives you and honesty and endeavour. He trains like he plays every day.

“In defence of David, he has had a big change in his life recently by becoming a dad. When his partner had the baby, I think he lost a stone in weight.

“He was up every other hour feeding the baby because that is just him. He will play (against Wolves) because he might be the one that others look to. David might not be the greatest footballer, and he’ll admit that, but you want him alongside you when it’s tough, and at the moment, it is tough.”