Hull City v Burton Albion - Matt Ingram determined to complete promotion mission

More especially given his experiences during a bitter-sweet 2014-15 campaign while in the colours of hometown club Wycombe Wanderers.

Ingram was a permanent fixture between the posts at Adams Park and played a leading role in that campaign, one which tantalisingly hinted at glory, but ended in personal despair for the custodian and collective woe for himself and his team-mates.

Having played every minute of every game in that campaign, Ingram – in his 111th consecutive start – suffered a knee injury in the Chairboys’ final match of the regular season at Northampton.

After lengthy treatment, Ingram, in his 50th outing of 14-15, could not continue and was replaced by Alex Lynch, who made his debut at the age of 20.

The rookie would go onto feature in both legs of the League Two play-off semi-final with Plymouth Argyle, with Ingram also sidelined for the Wembley final against Southend which went to penalties, with Wanderers agonisingly losing 7-6.

For better or worse, it was a tilt at promotion that Ingram is never likely to forget and why playing a key role in current club Hull going all the way in 2020-21 would provide a spot of karma.

Ingram, an ever-present in the league for the Tigers this term, told The Yorkshire Post: “It would be a massive landmark in my career if we finish around the top and hopefully get promoted automatically.

“The closest I have got was at Wycombe, who reached the play-off final.

“I had a good season and then on the last day of the proper (regular) season, I got injured with about 30 minutes to go and that was me out of the play-offs and play-off final, which was disappointing.

“Then we lost on penalties in the final. So I was gutted, although I had a good season and it was what it was.”

On evidence so far, this season also has the portents to be a strong one for Ingram. Although it will hopefully be devoid of the painful denouement that occurred in his time at Wycombe in the middle of the last decade.

Hull sit well placed in fifth spot, one point behind second-placed Ipswich Town with a game in hand and given the way they descended into freefall in a shocking second half of last season which culminated in a pitiful relegation, it is a head-turning response.

A stickler for high standards, manager Grant McCann has professed a degree of satisfaction by his side’s character.

A run of three defeats in 10 matches so far – with two coming on the road at Fleetwood and Swindon when his side were second best on both occasions and another in a key home game against current leaders Peterborough – shows that City are far from the finished article.

But there is justifiable cause for optimism.

“This season, we have had a few bumps in the road which was need to iron out and address, but I think the key is just consistency,” continued Ingram.

“With the games coming thick and fast, as long as we keep our levels of performance, that’s the main thing. We are not going to win every single game.

“But we have to make sure we draw those games more than we lose. That is the key. Teams will come to the KCOM and it is one of the bigger stadiums as well. Clubs will want to come here and win as it is a big scalp if they do.”

The fact that Hull have turned the page so quickly after last season’s implosion is all power to McCann, who took his players on a pre-season training camp to Edinburgh in a bonding exercise which also outlined what he expected of them this season.

The location was a little more exotic when McCann gathered a group of players ahead of his last quest at promotion from the third tier in the summer of 2018 when he and his Doncaster Rovers squad hatched plans during a close-season trip to the Spanish resort of La Manga.

It was a campaign which ended in Rovers being hugely unfortunate to bow out on penalties in their play-off semi-final second leg at Charlton.

The disappointment of that moment will also represent a personal motivation for McCann to go one better.

Ingram has his own inspiration and his statistics have shaped up nicely this term, if not without the odd blot on the landscape.

The 26-year-old was part of the club’s best league start to a season in 72 years – which saw them keep four clean sheets.

A fifth shut-out would have equalled a club record set by Billy McCracken’s class of 1925-6, only for the Tigers to be mauled in an abject second-half showing in the wind and rain at Fleetwood.

It was a tough night for the exposed Ingram, but a rare moment to forget in a campaign which has seen him emerge from the shadows after playing second fiddle to George Long last term and finally make his mark.

Ingram, who joined the club from QPR in June 2019, said: “It is a new season and new start.

“It was nice to get away (to Edinburgh) and get the lads together for a bit of team bonding. It’s a fresh start this season and so far we are doing alright – but we want to do better.

“The Sunderland (EFL Cup) game got me on my way with a clean sheet and winning on penalties with a good performance and penalty save. It helped confidence massively.

“It was nice that all the other plaudits came in with the statistics and stuff. But my concentration now is just for the next game and keeping another clean sheet.”

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