West Bromwich Albion v Hull City: Alfie Jones tells Tigers to keep their foot down
Hull City are in a good vein of form at the moment, so as far as Alfie Jones is concerned they just need to keep their foot on the accelerator.
The Tigers have won their last two home matches and drew at play-off chasing Bristol City inbetween despite having Joao Pedro sent off in the opening quarter of an hour, just after putting his team in front.
They travel to another side looking to take their season into overtime – West Bromwich Albion – on Saturday on the back of one defeat in six matches. It is a pity when they get back from the Hawthorns an international break will mean they have a fortnight's wait for their next game.
All Jones is interested in is making hay whilst the sun is still shining.
"When you're on that roll, you just want it to continue," said the centre-back. "You just need to keep the standards high and be on it all the time.
"We can't take our foot off the accelerator, we need to be on it every day, every minute, every game. It's just keeping that consistency on and off the pitch.
"If you can keep standards high, generally performances follow.
"Before it was one win and a loss and we couldn't seem to find that rhythm but now we seem to have and we just need to continue that."
It is not just results, but the character shown in the last two matches in particular which add to the confidence. Michal Helik put Oxford United ahead on Wednesday, but the Tigers came back to win 2-1.
"The win was the most important thing on Wednesday," acknowledged Jones. “We probably weren't at the races at the start.
"Again we showed the character to grind out a result. We just need to continue this form now.
"Hopefully we can get another win before the international break."
Hull are on solid ground defensively too, with only three goals conceded in the five matches since Charlie Hughes came back into the side after injury as Jones' central defensive partner.
"He's a fantastic player, he's got such a mature head on young shoulders," said Jones. "He just needs to maintain that form and make sure he works hard every day.
"We've got a consistent back four at the moment, which has helped. We've all got good relationships across the back line and with people coming in."
Pedro serves part two of a three-match ban and Gustavo Puerta is also suspended for his second booking against Oxford. Cody Drameh (knee) has joined Louie Barry, Eliot Matazo, Liam Millar and Mohamed Belloumi on the injury list.