Assistant boss Chris Hutchings has challenged Town’s younger players to keep showing they’re worth their shirts when the Blues take on Hull City at the KC Stadium on Saturday. The likes of Tommy Smith, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Andy Drury, older but inexperienced in the Championship, have been keeping senior players such as Ibrahima Sonko, Lee Bowyer and, prior to his suspension, Jimmy Bullard on the bench.

Hutchings said: “It’s been a challenge to the younger players who have gone in and established themselves a little bit more now. It’s been a test.

“We said to them that you’re the ones who have got the shirts, you’re the ones who’ll give us them back and over seven games they’ve performed very, very well and are keeping more experienced players out.

“That’s all good for the future of the football club and a credit to those young lads that are getting their test now.

“After their little run of four or five games undefeated we got beaten at Brighton. Could we bounce straight back? We did that [against Bristol City] and followed it up with a very, very good result against Southampton and now we’ve got to continue that.”

Hutchings has hinted that he and manager Paul Jewell are weighing up whether to make changes for the visit to the KC Stadium but more due to games coming thick and fast - Town play eight times in March - than poor performances.

Hull have conceded the fewest goals in the Championship, 26, but at the same time have scored only 32 times in 33 games. The Tigers are unbeaten in eight in the league but they’ve drawn their last four games, three of them ending goalless.

Hutchings says that that run has prevented them from pushing on into the top six: “They’ve drawn one or two of late and that’s probably just held them back from getting right into that play-off position, but I’m sure Nick Barmby will be trying to sort that out, as we’re trying to sort ourselves out.

“They’ve got Matt Fryatt up front, and as he showed against Blackpool, when you’ve got goalscorers in your side, they only need one chance and normally they take them.

“When we attack, we’ve got to make sure we concentrate defensively. We’re a threat going forward, we create chances, we’ve scored goals of late and we’ve got to continue to do that.

“Games are won in both boxes. You’ve got to defend well and your keeper’s got to pull off saves when you’re under pressure and when you have chances at the other end, you’ve got to make sure you take them.”

He says Barmby, who took over as manager when Nigel Pearson returned to Leicester in November, has made a good start in his new role: “Nick’s done great after taking over there. It’s always difficult when you’ve been a player there to go on the other side of the fence.

“He’s got good experienced people around him. He’s brought Steve Wigley in, an excellent coach working with Stuart Pearce with the England U21s at the moment in time. I’m really delighted for them.”

Despite Hutchings and Jewell ruminating on whether to make changes, they’ll probably stick with most or all of the side which drew 1-1 at Southampton on Tuesday and comfortably beat Bristol City 3-0 last Saturday.

Alex McCarthy has looked more impressive on his return to the side than he did in his earlier spell in the team and will keep his place in goal.

Skipper Carlos Edwards and Aaron Cresswell are firmly established as the full-backs with Tommy Smith and ex-Tiger Damien Delaney likely to continue as the central defensive pairing with Ibrahima Sonko again on the bench.

Central midfield is where the Blues management have most options with Drury and Grant Leadbitter the men in possession of the shirts but with Bowyer, Luke Hyam and recent signing Ryan Stevenson all pushing for a place.

The current pairing will probably continue, while Jimmy Bullard won’t face his old club as he is suspended from Town for another week for his Newcastle nightclub exploits.

In the wide roles, Josh Carson will be hoping to push either Jay Emmanuel-Thomas or Daryl Murphy for their starting role but may be included amongst the subs with the former Arsenal man in particular showing a tendency to fade during the second half of matches.

Lee Martin will be behind lone striker Michael Chopra, who suffered a minor ankle injury at Southampton but is not expected to be in any danger of missing the match.

Hull boss Barmby says he always expected to see Town start move in the right direction: "Ipswich have picked up of late and with the players they have got, you always felt that would happen.

"Michael Chopra is scoring goals and is a danger man, and the lad Lee Martin is playing well and is a busy type of player. They're all working hard for each other and to be fair to Ipswich, they had a lot of injuries to a lot of key players earlier in the season.

"The way they've come back from that doesn't surprise you because of the manager they have got there and the experience he has.

"They'll be a danger on Saturday and we've had them watched a few times, so hopefully we know what they're about."

Hull, who sit in ninth in the Championship, nine points and six places ahead of the Blues, two points from the play-offs, have on-loan Manchester United winger Robbie Brady available again after a thigh injury, while midfielder Seyi Olofinjana is back having been rested in midweek.

Town defender Damien Delaney played for Hull from 2002 until 2008, making 235 starts and four sub appearances, scoring five goals.

Fellow centre-half Ibrahima Sonko made nine appearances for the Tigers while on loan from Stoke in 2009/10.

Jimmy Bullard was Hull's record £5 million signing but managed only 19 starts and five sub appearances in two and half years, scoring six goals.

Liam Rosenior, who was on loan with the Blues from Reading during 2009/10, is the only current Tiger to have represented Town. Hull’s head of football operations Adam Pearson was Paul Jewell’s boss in his time as manager of Derby.

Historically, the Tigers just have the edge on the Blues having won 11 of the games between the teams (10 in the league), while Town have been victorious eight times (eight) and a further nine (nine) matches have been draws.

In January, Town’s FA Cup campaign came to an end at the third round stage as the Blues lost 3-1 to the Tigers at the KC Stadium.

The home side were 2-0 in front at the break via Aaron Mclean and Tom Cairney before half-time sub Jason Scotland pulled one back for Town, but Cameron Stewart sealed the Tigers’ place in round four in injury time.

In August, Matty Fryatt’s second half goal was enough to give Hull a 1-0 league victory over the Blues at Portman Road.

Town had the better of a first period in which Delaney had hit the bar, but the Tigers improved after the break with Fryatt making the most of a defensive lapse with 14 minutes remaining.

In the most recent league game at the KC Stadium in November 2010, Robert Koren’s deflected 25-yard second half strike was enough to give Hull a 1-0 win.

The Tigers had hit the woodwork twice within a minute in the first half of what was a drab game with neither side creating much in front of goal during the entire 90 minutes.

Saturday’s referee is Roger East from Wiltshire, who has shown 100 yellow and five red cards in 36 matches so far this season. East’s only previous Town game was the 2-0 victory at Derby last season in which he booked three players from each team.

Squad from: McCarthy, Lee-Barrett, Edwards, Cresswell, Smith, Delaney, Sonko, Drury, Hyam, Leadbitter, Bowyer, Emmanuel-Thomas, Murphy, Carson, Martin, Chopra, Scotland.

Story syndicated from TWTD.co.uk

Photo: Action Images

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