Robert Snodgrass is determined Hull City will cure away daze

Four games have yielded four victories, a tally that includes not only the Tigers’ joint biggest winning margin under Steve Bruce but also a safe passage to the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Allied with promotion rivals stumbling during the opening weeks of 2016 this winning start has made for a very happy beginning to the new year for Hull.

There is, though, one potential dark cloud hovering over the East Riding club and that concerns the away form. Bruce’s men marked New Year’s Day with a 2-1 win at Queens Park Rangers, but that was the first three-point haul the club had claimed in five outings on the road, all against teams in the lower half of the table.

It was far from convincing, too, with Hull needing a fortuitous goal from Adama Diomande in the 90th minute to clinch all three points from a performance that, while better than the ‘no-shows’ in losing at Rotherham United, Leeds United and Preston North End in December, was distinctly lacklustre.

With a run of four consecutive games away from the KC Stadium coming up, starting with tomorrow’s visit to Fulham, Robert Snodgrass admits there would be no better time for the Tigers to rediscover their bite on the road.

“If we can sort out our away form,” said the former Leeds United man, “we will be in the mix come the end of the season.

“We have four (away games) in a row now and we have to go and deliver. We have to roll our sleeves up and put a marker down with performances.

“It is a battle to get out of this league, but the game is about pressure and expectation levels and we expect a lot of ourselves, both collectively and individually.

“When you set the marker (that Hull laid down last weekend against Charlton in a 6-0 romp), you have to build on it and not go backwards.

“We played well against Burnley (in winning 3-0 on Boxing Day), put in a good performance. But how we followed it up at Preston was not nice. We cannot repeat that.”

Bruce was scathing about Hull’s efforts away from home in December. Not only did he label his side “Big-time Charlies” after the loss at Elland Road, but he also admitted in the wake of the 1-0 defeat at Deepdale that Hull “couldn’t have played any worse if they had tried”.

He was slightly placated by the resilience shown by the Tigers at Loftus Road, though quick to admit the game had been “far from a classic”.

Hull’s travails on the road are a mystery, especially when compared to the imperious form that Bruce’s side have shown on home soil.

At the KC Stadium, Hull have claimed 35 points – more than any other club on their own patch in the Football League. The club’s tally of 30 goals is also the highest outside the Premier League, Manchester City fans having seen their side score three more at the Etihad than the Tigers have netted in the East Riding.

Such dominance in front of their own supporters makes the poor displays at Elland Road, Deepdale and the New York Stadium all the more bemusing to the club’s manager

“Hopefully, we have learned from the disappointments we have had away from home,” said Bruce yesterday at the club’s Cottingham training ground amid preparations for the trip to Craven Cottage.

“The one thing we know about this league is that if you think you can just turn up and have the right to win a game, you will get your backside kicked.

“That is how this division works, it is as genuine as they come. If you are not at it, you will come unstuck. Our aim is to improve away from home and it has got to be a mentality thing. We have got to be more geared up to get a result away from home. If we do that, then we will have an outstanding chance.”

Snodgrass could be key to those hopes, his performance in the demolition of a sorry Charlton on what was only his second league start since returning from a dislocated kneecap being a hark back to the days when he terrorised opposition defences in the colours of Leeds and Norwich.

“I feel to be getting there,” said the Scot, who missed 15 months after suffering the serious injury on the opening day of last season.

“I have had three starts and two goals. I came to the club to score goals and create goals. That is exactly what I am trying to do.

“But you won’t see that if I am coming off the bench, and playing five or 10 minutes.

“At first, I was just happy to be back in and among the squad, but that feeling has gone now. I am here to play football.

“I am not putting the long hours in and working extra with the physios and strength conditioners to sit on the bench. I want to play games and the manager knows that.

“To be fair, he has been quality and, as a team, we have set things up nicely for 2016.

“Home games haven’t been a problem, but now we have a few away. We have to take our home form on the road.”