Hull City v Sheffield United – It’s just the next game we have to win, says Nigel Adkins

A season that had begun amid such hope that someone with three promotions from League One to his name could finally unlock the exit door for the Blades at the fifth attempt had descended into recrimination and rancour. An 11th-place finish meant any patience on the part of the Bramall Lane faithful finally ran out.

Adkins led his players on the traditional lap of appreciation after Scunthorpe United had brought the curtain down on a hugely disappointing season for Adkins’s side with a 2-0 victory, but the few who stayed behind seemed to have done so merely to vent their fury.

Footage of one fan screaming ‘you’re an embarrassment to the club and the city” quickly went viral online, while earlier in the afternoon the Kop’s response to the Iron’s second goal had been to bellow at their manager, ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’.

Adkins was not, but he was gone four mornings later, paving the way for Chris Wilder’s return to a club he had twice served as a player and supported since childhood.

Adkins, almost exactly three years on from that ignominious final outing at the Lane at the helm of the Blades, is now in charge of Hull City and has the opportunity to take revenge by derailing his old club’s push for the Premier League. Not that the man himself sees it that way, the chance to add another three points to the Tigers’ tally being his only motivation.

“It is just the next game of football that we have got to go and win,” he said. “Chris Wilder has done a phenomenal job there and they are now in second position, so it is going to be a cracking game.

“They have got every chance of going up in the top two. There will still be twists and turns, but all my focus is on trying to do right by Hull City.

“We have been on a great run of form at home. Is that 12 or 13 games we have been undefeated at home?”

Hull’s last defeat at the KCOM came way back in November against Nottingham Forest. Since then the Tigers have taken an impressive 30 points from a dozen outings in front of their own fans, scoring 29 goals in the process.

Jarrod Bowen has been responsible for 12 of those, underlining just why he is now such a hot property.

The 22-year-old, bought for £50,000 from Hereford by Steve Bruce in 2014, seems certain to depart Hull this summer with Tottenham Hotspur having been regulars at games involving the East Riding club this term.

He is unlikely to be the only departure with Hull set to tighten their financial belts significantly in response to the ending of their parachute payments following relegation from the Premier League two years ago.

David Marshall, signed during the club’s top-flight days, is also expected to leave along with Evandro, while uncertainty surrounds the futures of Fraizer Campbell, Markus Henriksen and Kamil Grosicki.

Whether Adkins, who has done an impressive job at the KCOM, sticks around beyond the expiry of his own contract in the summer also remains to be seen at a club where ambitions next term may extend only as far as treading water in the Championship.

For now those questions can be put aside with the focus instead being on today’s clash with the promotion-chasing Blades.

“We have got to get ourselves ready for a cracking game,” added Adkins, whose own side’s slim hopes of reaching the play-offs were effectively killed off by Friday’s defeat at West Bromwich Albion. “Obviously, Sheffield United are now up to second in the league so it means a lot.

“Everyone has got a responsibility and everyone will keep working hard.

“We have got a great group of lads who everyday come in and work hard.

“This is another game to look forward at the KCOM and we have got to get ready for that.”

Hull lost 1-0 at Bramall Lane in October just a couple of months after knocking the Blades out of the Carabao Cup first round on penalties at the same venue.

Reece Burke played in both those games, but will be missing today with an ankle injury sustained at The Hawthorns. Captain Markus Henriksen is another notable absentee for the Tigers with a back problem.

Adkins also plans to keep a close eye on a couple of others who felt the effects of playing on such a hot afternoon when losing 3-2 to the Baggies.

He added: “Sheffield United will be buoyed by going second and we will maybe be a little bit deflated by not getting the result we wanted at West Brom. Although it is not mathematically over, it is an uphill task to get into that play-off position.

“But we have still got three games to go and we are going to do everything we can to do right by everyone. We will turn that (disappointment) around and get ourselves ready.

“I have got to obviously assess where everyone is at. We have picked up a couple of injuries so there will be forced changes. I will have to see where everyone is physically before we go into the game.

“It will be another hot day and we will give everything we have got, just as the players have done consistently this season. If we do fall short, hopefully it will be by trying valiantly.”

Last six games: Hull City DWWWLL Sheffield United WLWDDW. Referee: G Scott (Oxfordshire). Last time: Hull City 1 Sheffield United 0; February 23, 2018; Championship.