Tigers’ hunt for revenge has to take back seat

The Tigers have enjoyed an encouraging start to life back in the Premier League and sit 10th in the table with 11 points from nine games.

With Sunderland – one of manager Steve Bruce’s former clubs – moving off the foot of the division on Sunday with a derby victory over Newcastle United, Saturday’s league game at the KC Stadium is an important one.

It means that when selecting tomorrow’s side to face Tottenham – just three days after a controversial defeat at White Hart Lane in the league – Bruce senior will have the match with the Black Cats very much in mind.

Spurs are also expected to rest several members of the side that beat Hull 1-0 on Sunday, as manager Andre Villas-Boas continues to juggle the demands of chasing honours on several fronts, including in the Europa League.

For Hull, the priority has to be staying in the Premier League and that is why Alex Bruce believes taking three points from the Sunderland game has to be the target.

The Tigers defender, who started against Spurs on Sunday, said: “The two teams will have quite a lot of changes in the Capital One Cup.

“I would certainly imagine so anyway because the games are coming thick and fast. This is a squad game, there are not going to be just 11 players used through the season.

“I thought the lads who came in at Tottenham did very well, but it is a squad game and I know all of the lads will be champing at the bit to get a game on Wednesday.”

Hull have never been further than the fourth round of the League Cup and the last time they attempted to reach the quarter-finals was in November, 1977.

Then, they were also in North London with Highbury the destination where Bobby Collins’s side crashed to a 5-1 defeat against 
Arsenal with John Hawley netting a late consolation penalty.

Reaching the last eight would, of course, be a huge feather in the cap for Bruce and his players.

However, when asked of the relative importance of this week’s two games, Alex Bruce said: “Sunderland will definitely be the one he (manager Steve Bruce) wants to win. That will be in his mind.

“We all know the Premier League is top of the agenda this season and that we need to stay in it. Hopefully, we can do that.

“The club has not done very well of late in this competition so if we can have a run without any injuries then that would be a bonus.”

Bruce junior’s appearance at White Hart Lane was his first in the Premier League since May, 2006, when on the books of Birmingham City.

His only previous two matches for Hull this season had both come in League Cup wins, against Leyton Orient and Huddersfield Town.

The 29-year-old said: “I want to play every game. I am champing at the bit, but I am not naive enough to think I will be playing every game. Anyone in the team who thinks that will soon realise that is not going to happen.

“We need to freshen things up throughout the season and I am sure the manager will use what he thinks is best to get the results.

“Everyone is together. There is a real spirit among the squad. It is a great set of lads. I find it a joy to go into work with all the banter and smiles on people’s faces. I am sure that will stand us in good stead.”

The smiles that have characterised much of Hull’s third season among the elite were in short supply at the final whistle on Sunday after a controversial penalty award by referee Michael Oliver prevented the battling Tigers from claiming a point.

Alex Bruce said: “It was very frustrating to lose like we did. When you go to a place like Tottenham and limit them to as few a number of chances as we did, then to come away after a decision that goes against you like that is a tough one to take.

“I would like to think these things will even themselves out, but we will have to see. We have to take the positives out of the Tottenham performance and not dwell on the result.

“There are a lot of established Premier League teams who won’t play as well as we did at White Hart Lane and that has to give us encouragement.

“We had a game plan, we stuck to it and, unfortunately, a bad refereeing performance cost us.

“As the manager calls it, we got beat with our boots on. It is a phrase he says quite a lot.

“He means there is a right way to lose. Of course, no one wants to get beat, but there were positives to take out of what happened.”

The defeat at Spurs means Hull have taken three points from a difficult run of five games on the road.

Bruce added: “We went to White Hart Lane, we have also been to Newcastle, Manchester City, Everton and Chelsea and these are all very tough places to go.

“The positive thing is we have played well in all those games.

“Obviously, we would like to have taken a few more points out of those games.

“But, at the start of the season, I think we would all agree that they are not the games that people are going to judge us on.

“It is the matches against teams around us that are going to count. So, if we can play like we did at Tottenham against, with all due respect, the lesser teams then we will be okay.

“So far we have done that at home and that is pleasing. The key is to keep doing that and keep picking up points.”