Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Another week and it’s fair to say another six pointer in a bid to beat the drop and this one arguably has the most importance of all as Hull play host to Middlesbrough at The KCOM Stadium. It’s 18th playing 19th and the repercussions of this result could be huge. A win for Hull could see them move out of the bottom three while defeat for Middlesbrough will all but consign them to The Championship next season.
This one is as a pure a six pointer as you can get. Home side Hull will no doubt have their tails up after an important win over West Ham on Saturday. A win that has seen them close the gap to Swansea in 17th to just a point. It was that win over Swansea on March 11th which has rejuvenated Hull’s bid to beat the drop and they will be looking to continue that positive momentum this evening when Steve Agnew’s Middlesbrough come to town.
Saturday saw The Tigers beat Slaven Bilic’s men in front of their own fans and in all fairness it was a result that surprised very few. With the form that The Hammers have been in as of late, Hull boss Marco Silva will have identified that as a very much winnable game. His preparations in the week would have been rewarded thanks to Andrea Ranocchia’s late winner. Just how crucial will that goal be at the end of the season.
And Tonight Silva will know that when facing a Middlesbrough side all you have to do is get ahead and the game is as good as won. The first goal tonight is going to be absolute crucial especially if ‘Boro do go behind as them you wonder where an equaliser is going to come from. Just 20 goals from 29 games is a miserable tally and should they go down than that will be the main reason as to why.
Steve Agnew will have been ruing the lack of goals on Sunday as they had to make do with a stalemate at The Liberty Stadium. A result that in truth did either side any real favours, it could very well have been three points though had Rudy Gestede’s headed effort in injury time not been so poor. But that in a microcosm almost summed up how bad Middlesbrough’s attack line has been this season.
A clean sheet is certainly something to build on but it was the kind of game against Swansea in which no team really wanted to lose. It was devoid of any real quality as the fear factor of defeat was all too apparent. It is small steps for Middlesbrough but with the fact that they are running out of games they need to start taking giant leaps.
What will the outcome be tonight, as stated above I think the first goal is going to be absolutely crucial. Should Hull get it then I think it will be game over and if that is the case I can only see it being a home win. One that then means that Middlesbrough Chairman Steve Gibson will have to start preparing for life in The Championship if he has not already. A vital home win for Hull which could see them out of the bottom three.
