Brotherly words of wisdom gets Corry focused

FOR the Evans family, this could be a truly momentous week.

Five days ago, Jonny Evans was in the Manchester United side that clinched the Premier League title with a resounding victory at home to Aston Villa.

Today, meanwhile, brother Corry is hoping to be enjoying his own celebration party as Hull City go in search of the three points that will be enough to clinch promotion.

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“It would brilliant to celebrate together,” said the 22-year-old Tigers midfielder ahead of the trip to Oakwell. “It would also be a great reward for the family after all the hard work they have put in with myself and my brother.

“They moved over from Belfast to Manchester 10 years ago to give us the best chances and we haven’t looked back since.”

The brothers have, indeed, fully justified that leap of faith by their parents with Jonny now boasting a hat-trick of Premier League title winners’ medals.

Corry may not have followed his brother into the Old Trafford first team – being an unused substitute at, funnily enough, the KC Stadium was the closest the midfielder came to making a top flight appearance for United – but his career is definitely on the up.

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A Northern Ireland international with 18 caps to his name, the City midfielder could, by 5pm today, be heading to the Premier League. A win will be enough to guarantee a return to the elite for Hull following last night’s 2-1 victory for Watford at Leicester City.

Asked if Jonny had been offering any advice to his younger sibling this week, Corry replied: “He has just said to make sure we get there.

“My brother has been through it before. He was (on loan) at Sunderland when Roy Keane was in charge and they won promotion so knows what it takes. He just said. ‘Make sure you focus on yourself’.

“We spoke about United’s title win.

“It was the day after the Villa game and he sounded rough. I think they had hit the town on Monday night.

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“I watched the game and texted him afterwards. It is brilliant to see your brother up there winning Premier League titles, he has done incredibly well for himself.”

Evans’ route from Belfast to Hull and, hopefully, the top flight involved him, at first, making the switch to the KC Stadium on a loan basis in January, 2011.

Nigel Pearson then made the move permanent the following summer and the midfielder went on to miss just three league games last season.

This time around, Evans has not been as much of a mainstay of the team. Nevertheless, he has still made 31 Championship appearances and is likely to return to the starting line-up today after a two-game ban.

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“I don’t know how the manager does it on the sidelines every week, said the Irishman when asked about having to sit out the recent Wolverhampton Wanderers and Bristol City matches.

“Watching the games is completely different to playing when there is so much pressure on. You would rather play because you are pretty helpless when you are watching.

“If it is in your hands, like it is for us in the league, it is a lot easier on the mind to be playing.”

Providing Hull finish the job over the next two games and claim the victory required to seal a return to the Premier League, Evans’ decision to leave Old Trafford to try his luck elsewhere will have been fully vindicated.

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He added: “I joined Hull during the first season after relegation from the Premier League. So, I looked at them as a top team in the Championship. There seemed a clear vision and a good plan from the club to get back there.

“I signed a three-year deal so to be able to be looking at automatic promotion within two years is fantastic. Any young player needs to go out there and get experience if you’re still playing in the reserves at 20.

“It was my choice to leave United. I was on loan initially but when a permanent transfer became possible, I snatched Hull’s hand off.

“I felt this would be a good place to come and learn my football and that has been the case. I feel as though I’ve progressed all the time and now I’d just like to get the chance to move on to the next level.

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“For what they did for me, I will always be grateful to United. They really helped me along and, hopefully, I could have the opportunity to play against them next year.

“I was on the bench a couple of times with United and the first time was actually at Hull. It was the game when Hull stayed up and I remember Phil Brown being on the pitch afterwards singing.

“All the Hull fans came on the pitch at the end, too, and we had to run off. It was some way to get your first taste of the Premier League.

“Hopefully, we will see those scenes of celebration at the KC next week (when Cardiff City are the final day visitors).”

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Before then, of course, City have today’s trip to Oakwell to contend with. More than 5,000 fans will make the trip from the East Riding and all are hoping to see Steve Bruce’s men clinch a league double.

Sone Aluko scored the only goal when the two Yorkshire rivals met in November, though Barnsley did exact a form of revenge with a 1-0 victory at the KC Stadium in the FA Cup fourth round.

The Reds, who go into the penultimate weekend sitting second bottom but level on points with Peterborough United two places above, are desperate for a repeat today to boost their own hopes of survival.

Evans said: “Every game that you play at this stage of the season has something riding on it for one side or the other.

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“Barnsley will be a difficult game with them fighting relegation so it is about us making sure we are right on top of our own jobs.”

Hull’s promotion would bring to an end the absence of a Yorkshire club from the Premier League. At three years, the current run is the longest the county has been without a top flight representative since the early 1900s and Evans admits promotion would be a huge achievement.

He said: “It would be massive for myself, the club and the city of Hull. To be playing Premier League next year would be amazing and, hopefully, we can take that step at Barnsley.

“It is what every kid dreams of. If you want to be a footballer when you are growing up, you want to do it in the Premier League. I’m no different. I want to test myself against the best in the world. It would be unbelievable.”

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As anyone who was either at the KC a week last Friday or watched the dull goalless draw with Bristol City live on television can testify, City’s performance betrayed nerves. Manager Bruce’s response has been this week to try and relax his players by taking them for a day at the seaside.

Evans said: “There was a bit of deflation straight after the game but we are bouncing at the minute. Instead of training, we went to Hornsea for some fish and chips on Tuesday. That lightened the mood and got us away from the training ground and now we can’t wait for Barnsley to come round.”