Survival priority but Cup still lures Tigers

CURTIS DAVIES is scenting another possible Cup run for Hull City.
Hull City's Curtis Davies. Picture: Tony JohnsonHull City's Curtis Davies. Picture: Tony Johnson
Hull City's Curtis Davies. Picture: Tony Johnson

After reaching the FA Cup final, the Tigers tomorrow have a chance to move into the fourth round of the League Cup for only the fifth time in the club’s history when taking on West Bromwich Albion.

City battled through to that stage a year ago, where they lost to Tottenham Hotspur on penalties, but otherwise their last appearance in the fourth round had come in 1978.

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Steve Bruce is certain to rotate his squad for the trip to The Hawthorns but Davies, one who could be rested, is adamant the Tigers want to progress.

He said: “It would obviously be good to get through. We go into every competition and want to win every game. I don’t know about the importance of it because our goal is still now to stay in the Premier League, no matter what.

“I don’t care about what signings we have made and what players we have got now, we need to stay in this league and that is the be all and end all.

“But, obviously, if we can go down to West Brom and get a victory there to get through to the next round, then looking at the amount of head-to-head Premier League games (in the third round) it would look like a very good chance of progressing further and further in the competition.

“That, though, is all dependent on how we go about it.”

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West Brom will be buoyed by their first Premier League win of the season on Sunday, a 1-0 victory at Spurs.

City, meanwhile, have looked imperious going forward but struggled at the back. Davies added: “It seems like we have gone the other way from last year, when we started off with a solid base and kept a lot of clean sheets to nick 1-0 wins.

“But, at the moment, that clean sheet just does not seem to be coming for us. And that is very frustrating because we are scoring the goals right now.”