Grant McCann is inspired by last term’s dream run of results at Hull City

The East Yorkshire outfit propelled themselves from the bottom half of the Championship to firm play-off contenders on the back of an outstanding haul of 16 points from 18 – which saw monthly gongs afforded to ex-manager Nigel Adkins and top-scorer Jarrod Bowen.

McCann, who has confirmed that striker Josh Magennis is set for an earlier-than-expected return from a hamstring injury over Christmas, said: “You can go on three- or four-game winning runs, I think it was seven here last season in a row. That is incredible.

“It is easier said than done because this league is so difficult and so tight, but we would love that, as would 23 other teams in the league.

“Everyone is searching for that. We feel as though we are in good form over the last 10 games.”

Confident his play-off chasing side will deliver a strong response at home to Stoke after last week’s loss to Barnsley, he added: “We have reacted well to defeats this season. We’ve lost two in a row a couple of times, but we have responded well.

“As a group, we do not let things linger too long. We address things straight away and get back to work.”

Meanwile McCann is to hold keynote recruitment talks with the club’s hierarchy next week, but has dismissed rumour of a January move for Bristol City defender Sammie Szmodics as speculation.

The former Colchester United player has also been linked with Huddersfield Town.

The Hull chief said: “I am sure Lee (Darnbrough – head of recruitment) is working hard behind the scenes and as soon as an agent phones you with a player, or you phone an agent asking about a player, sometimes agents can be a wee bit busy and put that into papers.

“It is speculation, it is all it is. I am sure there will be plenty of names linked to us between now and January

“We will speak about recruitment next week in terms of what we want to bring in and what areas we want to bring in. For now we will focus on the boys that are here and playing well.

“We have got good depth. Losing some bodies is not ideal but that happens. We have had a couple of knocks, but nothing too serious apart from the last couple of weeks. We have been robust enough.”