Three clean sheets in a row as resilient Hull City continue momentum under Liam Rosenior

The Tigers recorded a third successive Sky Bet Championship clean sheet for the first time since January 2022 as their strong form continues.

Since Rosenior’s arrival in November, Hull have lost only two of their 13 league games.

Aaron Connolly twice came close to putting the visitors in front, but he flashed a strike wide and scooped an effort over.

A hard-fought point in the Potteries elevates the East Yorkshire outfit to 11th place, five points beneath the play-off places.

“It was a hard-earned and battling point away from home,” said Rosenior. “I think they paid us a big compliment by trying to stop us from playing our football.

“I have to give credit to every single player because we looked so organised, so disciplined and so resilient.

“That’s a side of the game you need in the Championship.

“When we have the ball, every player’s an attacker. When we don’t, every player’s a defender.

“There’s no change in your role wherever you are; Oscar (Estupinan) epitomises that when he defends from the front, and they’ve all bought into that mentality.

“Hopefully that mentality will stay because we’re proving to be a very difficult team to beat. We’ve lost one game in 10 and kept three clean sheets in a row, and that gives us the basis to do well in this league.”

Rosenior also expressed sympathy for the victims of the earthquake in Turkey.

“We’ve got a lot of players who have played out in Turkey; it’s affected us massively,” he said.

“It’s so sad what has happened; it’s beyond a disaster and it’s really affected the group.

“We wanted to put on a performance today that did an amazing country proud and I think we did that in terms of our spirit and character.”

Stoke City: Sarkic, Wilmot, Jagielka, Fox, Hoever (Tezgel 75), Smallbone (Baker 90), Thompson, Laurent (Celina 90), Sterling, Campbell (Powell 60), Gayle (Brown 60). Unused substitutes: Bonham, Okagbue.

Hull City: Ingram, Christie, A Jones, McLoughlin, Elder (Greaves 64), Tufan (Ebiowei 63), Docherty, Seri (Woods 75), Slater (Coyle 90), Connolly (Longman 63), Estupinan. Unused substitutes: Darlow, Pelkas.

Referee: A Woolmer (Northants).