Liam Rosenior on why Hull City needed rest for some and sharpness for others as they look for magic moments during run-in

The Tigers have spent the first week of the international break at the Regnum Carya hotel in the resort of Antalya, the venue for a G20 summit in 2015 with exceptional facilities which go way beyond its three full-size football pitches.

Whilst sharpening up for the football they face on their return has been important, so has been down-time and allowing a squad which saw seven new additions in January to get to know one another better.

Hull get back to league football on Good Friday when they host Stoke City, quickly followed by a short Easter Monday trip to Leeds United. They have nine games to make up the gap to sixth-place Norwich City, three points ahead with a superior goal difference after a match more.

If they do, there will then be a two-legged play-off semi-final in May, and a potential Wembley final where the prize is promotion to the Premier League. Rosenior, who shortly before heading home on Saturday issued a positive injury bulletin about striker Liam Delap, stressed the importance of freshening up ahead of that.

"Switching off is as important as switching on at the right time," he said. "It's impossible for any human being to be at 100 per cent all of the time in anything so taking your time to switch off gives you more energy in the moments you need it and not just for the players, for the staff as well.

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"We've been here twice and there's not a better place to get that.

"In terms of the soft skills, the intangibles you need as a team unit to have success, this place ticks every box. The facilities, the way people treat you, everything's there to bring people together and that's been the main purpose of the trip.

"Hopefully that will give us exactly what we need for the run-in."

Thursday's 1-0 defeat to the Curacao national team in a friendly where Hull fielded their fringe players was a disappointment, but one which needed to be kept in context.

"Lads needed minutes and although it wasn't the World Cup final we wanted a better performance because the group are like that," he said.

"It's so hard when you don't have a rhythm and we had eight or nine players who haven't had that rhythm from games but we're going to need them.

"I said to them before the game, this is preparation for their moment. Three, four, five, six of them could be vital in terms of that moment, that goal, that game-saving tackle or header off the line."

Striker Delap, on loan from Manchester City, has been missed since injuring his knee at Sheffield Wednesday on New Year's Day, but could be back for around half the remaining regular-season games.

"All of the reports I'm getting are that he's doing better and better and getting ahead of schedule," said Rosenior. "We're looking at having him in, I would say, mid-April – a couple of weeks.

"We've decided with Manchester City they'll rehab him to a point where he can come back to full training."