Scent of Wembley is creeping up on Hull, says Bruce

The Tigers travel to Brighton & Hove Albion knowing that victory will earn the East Riding club a crack at Sunderland at the KC Stadium in the last eight.

And if Hull, one of five Premier League sides still in the competition, could then safely negotiate their way past the Black Cats on the weekend of March 8-9, a second visit to Wembley in six years will be theirs. First, though, Bruce’s men must find a way past Championship side Brighton on the south coast and the Hull chief admits it will not be easy.

He said: “Brighton are a good side. They have been there or thereabouts at the top end of the Championship for a couple of years now.

“Last year we beat them in my very first game and then lost narrowly down there. It will be a tough game, no question about that. Brighton have been very good on their own patch over recent years.

“The Cup is a competition that sort of creeps up on you. Now we’re at this stage, with the quarter-finals looming, why can’t we have a big, big run?

“Let’s go and have a go at that as well (as securing Premier League safety). You just never know in football. We have seen what Wigan did (last year in winning the FA Cup). Then Sunderland this year have got to a (League) Cup final.”

Bruce has made a host of changes in the previous two rounds against Middlesbrough and Southend United.

He has seen the Cup as an opportunity to give a number of his fringe players a run out.

Tonight will see a similar approach, especially with Nikica Jelavic and Shane Long, the strike duo who cost £14m last month, both excluded having played in the competition already this season for Everton and West Bromwich Albion respectively.

That is likely to lead to a rare start for Matty Fryatt, the two-goal hero of Hull’s fourth-round win at Southend, as Bruce’s men look to make it a trio of victories on the road in the Cup.

Fryatt is likely to come in alongside either Yannick Sagbo or Sone Aluko. The latter, though, is something of a doubt due to having suffered a reaction to his recent substitute appearances against Sunderland and Southampton, his first action in almost four months.

“Sone was sore on Friday after training the previous day,” revealed Bruce. “We are going to have to box clever with him because he has good days and bad days.”

On his overall selection, he added: “I always pick a team that I think can go out and win. That is how I have approached our previous games, by sending out a team I thought could go and win.

“We are not talking about playing a bunch of kids in the Cup. If I pick half the squad who are not playing at the moment, it is the team that got me promoted last year.

“People like Abdoulaye (Faye), Stephen Quinn and Matty Fryatt. It is difficult to leave them out because of what they have done for me. If we can win this next one, then you start smelling the hot dogs (of Wembley). The big games are around the corner. There’s nothing quite like an FA Cup quarter- or semi-final.”

Tonight’s tie is likely to come too soon for James Chester and Liam Rosenior, though Bruce hopes the defensive pair will be fit enough for this weekend’s important game at Cardiff City in the Premier League.

Bruce takes inspiration from Wigan and Swansea: Page 4.