Shrewsbury v Hull City - Grant McCann refusing to set points target for Tigers

An average total of 89.8 points has been sufficient to secure automatic promotion out of the third tier over the last five fullycompleted seasons.

The Tigers currently occupy pole position with 68 points from 36 matches, three more than second-placed Peterborough, who hold two games in hand and still have 12 left to play.

But, as has been the case throughout the 2020-21 campaign, McCann is insisting that he isn’t looking any further ahead than his side’s next fixture, which pits them against 17th-placed Shrewsbury this afternoon.

“I don’t have a feeling as to how many points a team would need. I haven’t thought about it,” the Northern Irishman said.

“We’ll let the media determine what it’s going to take to win the league or to come second, that’s not really for us to worry about.

“I am excited for the next game, I’m looking forward to it. I love a challenge, we’ve got a real challenge on Saturday, a tough game.

“We are looking forward to the challenge, we are excited by what’s ahead. But, it’s so tight at the minute and we just need to focus on what we do.”

Having won five on the spin, high-flying City head into today’s clash as big favourites, though McCann says that nothing can be taken for granted at a stage of the campaign when so many sides have so much to play for.

“Consistently over the last eight games we’ve been good and we’d love to continue that to the end of the season,” he added.

“But we understand it’s going to be difficult. People look at fixtures and think ‘that’s three points for them’, but at this stage of the season, it’s never like that, trust me. Every game is difficult because teams are playing for something.

“Shrewsbury, for example have got a lot of games in hand, they’re probably still thinking they’ve got a chance of the top-six.”