Liam Rosenior looking forward to Hull City's 'benchmark' games as he continues to learn

Liam Rosenior sees the next few days as a "benchmark" for Hull City, and the coach will be looking carefully to see who performs.

Hull are at Blackburn Rovers in Saturday's evening kick-off before travelling to Middlesbrough on Wednesday. With Rovers looking to cement themselves in the play-offs and Boro's fading hopes of automatic promotion not yet extinguished, they could be the hardest of their five remaining games.

Add to that unspecified injuries Rosenior claims has the squad "down to the bare bones".

There will be changes to the squad during Rosenior's first summer in charge and the next two matches could go some way to deciding who falls by the wayside.

"It's a benchmark," said Rosenior. "I want us to go away to Blackburn and Middlesbrough and I'm not going to change the way I want to play, I want to see who can do it away from home against two very good teams and I'm going to learn so bring it on."

By the same token, he enjoyed seeing his team put through the mill over Easter, taking a Good Friday draw at Sunderland then beating Millwall on Monday.

"We played two good teams and two completely different teams in the way they play," he pointed out. "Millwall are fairly direct, they put big Jake Cooper up for the last 10 minutes. I love watching our lads have to defend against that.

"We play football but we stand up to the physical challenge as well so I was really happy to get through those two games with four points.

"I couldn't have been happier with the players in the second half (against Millwall) for their engagement and their willingness to fight for the shirt."

Three games in a week will test Rosenior's management too, with decisions to make on a number of fitness concerns.

"We've got a few extra ones," he said of Hull’s injuries. "I don't want to give anything away because we're still waiting to see if they're fit but we're down to the bare bones.

"They're not long-term but they could be doubtful for the next two games.

"We've got a three-game week coming up so I need to be careful."

Goalkeeper Thimothee Lo-Tutala’s emergency loan at League Two Stevenage has been extended by seven days.