Trying times for McKenna as he targets lucky seven with Tigers

Or, at least that would be true if it contained an extra five mentions of the word ‘try’ with the 34-year-old currently bidding to make it seventh time lucky in his attempts to take that final step up to the top flight.

After being on the losing side half a dozen times in the Championship play-offs when sporting the colours of Preston North End and Nottingham Forest, McKenna is once again homing in on the promotion deciders with the Tigers.

Victory tonight over Brighton & Hove Albion will be enough to push Hull back into the top six and further raise hopes in the East Riding that the club could be on their way back to the top.

For McKenna, Hull’s impressive season is further vindication of the decision to move north last summer from the City Ground in the hope of finally ending his play-off jinx.

“I am enjoying my football more than ever,” says the vastly-experienced midfielder.

“Hull has been a nice place to come and play football.

“The stadium is first class and we have done well on the pitch, which really helps. We are as good a team as there is in the league.

“I certainly don’t believe there is a better team at passing it than us. It is why I am enjoying it so much. No one wants to be struggling in the league but we have been at the right end most of the season. Long may it continue.”

Providing Hull’s good form does continue, another tilt at winning promotion amid the high drama of the play-offs may be in the offing for McKenna.

“If we get to the play-offs, maybe I should sit them out as I am a bad omen,” he says with a big smile. “No, seriously, we don’t like talking about it too much.

“No one here gets carried away as we all realise that two or three losses could have us looking over our shoulders instead of looking at the top.

“I am not one to talk in the papers about this or that. We are just trying to keep our heads down. If we are still there in 10 games’ time, we can think about it but not now.

“It is better to wait until the end of March before we assess where we are at.”

Wise words, of course, for Hull, not least because Nick Barmby’s side face a gruelling schedule of nine games in 30 days next month. It does not, though, preclude discussion about his past experiences in the play-offs, which began in 2001 when Preston lost 3-0 to Bolton Wanderers in the First Division final.

Four years later, North End lost to West Ham, again at the Millennium Stadium, while 12 months after that it was Leeds United’s turn to end any hopes the Lancashire club had of reaching the Premier League with a 3-1 aggregate win in the semi-finals.

More disappointment followed in 2009 when Sheffield United beat Preston over two legs, while even McKenna’s switch to Nottingham could not bring about a change of fortune with Blackpool and then Swansea City beating Forest in the past two seasons.

The Hull midfielder said: “Obviously, it is a shame to miss out like I have. The two finals were bitterly disappointing. In the first one, I don’t think we were ever going to beat Bolton as they were a top side.

“They proved that by staying in the Premier League. West Ham was the one that left a bitter taste because we had beaten them twice in the league that season.

“We were confident going into the game. But we didn’t handle the occasion and they did. That is what the play-offs are about, the big pressure games in front of sell-out crowds. There is so much at stake and the ones who handle it best come out on top.”

On his hopes of finally making the step up to the Premier League, McKenna added: “Obviously, it has always been my ambition. I am 34 now and sometimes you think, ‘Maybe my time has gone.’ But then I have come here and things have gone well.

“If Hull make it (to the play-offs), that would be four years on the bounce with three different clubs. That is quite a record.”

McKenna’s influence at the heart of the Hull midfield has grown as the season has gone on, particularly in terms of him providing a vital extra defensive barrier in front of the back four.

That has undoubtedly been a factor in Hull having kept clean sheets in each of their last five league games. One more against Brighton will mean the setting of a new club record and a further boost to Hull’s promotion hopes.

McKenna said: “If we can get a good result against Brighton it can help us by giving us a cushion for the weekend when we don’t have a game. It would leave us with 10 days to get ourselves ready for the onslaught of March.

“The Championship is very tight, and probably tighter than I thought it would be at this stage. Usually, by mid-February there are real gaps appearing in the table but that hasn’t happened.”

Last six games: Hull City WWLDWD, Brighton & Hove Albion WDWWDL.

Last time: Hull City 2 Brighton & Hove Albion 0; August 20, 2005; Championship.

Referee: C Berry (Surrey).