Town boss Paul Jewell is determined to get back to winning ways after last week’s impressive 3-0 victory at Bristol City was followed by a disappointing midweek Carling Cup exit to Northampton. The Blues manager has injury problems at centre-half with Ãvar ingimarsson ruled out with a thigh injury and Damien Delaney having returned to training yesterday after turning his ankle at Ashton Gate.
Jewell says it’s important not to take too much from individual results, whether positive or negative: "I think you’ve got to be careful not to dwell on the Northampton game. After the game on Saturday I wasn’t saying we were the best thing since sliced bread, I wasn’t getting carried away.
"You’re always disappointed after a match, especially when you lose a game at home, but we made nine changes. One or two players did fine, some didn’t do themselves justice, but I don’t want to dwell on Tuesday, it’s gone.
"I did get a call from Tony Pulis on Wednesday morning congratulating me on a great result. I didn’t agree with him, but I know what he was saying — the league is the most important thing.
"However, having had the experiences last year and going to a Carling Cup final myself with Wigan, I know it would have been good for the club, good for the team and good for the supporters, but maybe in the long-term it can get in the way.”
Jewell’s main problem continues to be his centre-halves, having targeted a number of alternatives over the summer. A bid was put in earlier this week but it appears unlikely to be successful, certainly before the weekend, while Ibrahima Sonko’s potential move is in its very early stages.
In Ingimarsson’s absence, Jack Ainsley looks set to continue in the right-sided central defensive role. The 20-year-old is primarily seen as a right-back these days, although has previously operated as a central defender in the reserves and won England U17 caps as a striker when an academy player.
Jewell says Ainsley won’t let him down if called upon: "Jack’s got good technical ability, he’s got an eye for a goal and you can tell he’s played all over [the pitch].
"I just threw him in at centre-half because Ãvar wasn’t fit. In fairness to him, he went in, got on with the job and I thought he was terrific the other night.
"I think he’s a versatile player. He’s on a six-month contract here, he impressed me during pre-season and he did well the other night.”
The Blues boss was hopeful that former Tiger Delaney would be fit enough to play at Thursday’s press conference with the Irishman due to train for the first time since the weekend yesterday. If not, Tommy Smith will take the other central defensive berth.
Elsewhere, David Stockdale will be in goal and with Aaron Cresswell and Carlos Edwards in the full-back positions.
In midfield, Jewell will almost certainly give new signing Keith Andrews a debut against his old club in one of the three central slots. The other roles will go to two of Lee Bowyer, Grant Leadbitter or Mark Kennedy. Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Lee Martin will be in the wide positions with Michael Chopra up front.
Jewell watched Hull’s 1-0 defeat to Blackpool last week and felt it was an entertaining match: "I thought it was quite a good game. I watched it in the hotel in Bristol. It definitely looked like there were going to be goals in it, there were chances at both ends.
"This is the league we’re in. Hull are a decent team. They’ve got strikers like Matty Fryatt, they’ve got Aaron Mclean that they paid a lot of money for, they’ve got Jay Simpson, who scored a worldy against us last year here.
"It’s going to be a tough game, but there are no easy games [in the Championship], I’m going to be saying this for the next 45 games.”
Hull manager Nigel Pearson is not taking two successive defeats at the KC Stadium — the league loss to Blackpool was followed by a 2-0 reverse against Macclesfield in the Carling Cup - lightly: "There's a big concern for me. We've had two home games and we've lost them both. The longer it goes on, the more pressure it puts on ourselves so we've got to overcome that.
"We're always under pressure but performances like Tuesday certainly don't help. Our focus now has got to be on getting everything right for the next game because the feeling outside of where we work will be dependent on what the fans see themselves.
"If we're performing poorly of course people are going to change their views of us. It'll be up to us to get our performance right. Ipswich will be a tough game for us but we've got to get our season up and running."
Pearson says Town have made some decent signings over the summer: "They've made some good additions to the squad, so they will be another tough opponent.
"They normally are a useful side down there and in the past they've generally had a decent home record.
"We know it will be tough but more importantly it will be about getting a performance out of ourselves because we need to bounce back from two disappointing results."
Ex-Town loanee Liam Rosenior (knee) and striker Dele Adebola (back), a Town target on a number of occasions under various managers, are expected to recover from niggles but former Grays Athletic frontman Aaron Mclean looks set to miss out with a calf injury.
Town defender Damien Delaney played for Hull from 2002 until 2008, making 235 starts and four sub appearances, scoring five goals.
New signing Keith Andrews joined Hull in 2005 when his contract at Wolves ran out. In two years at the KC Stadium, the midfielder made 25 starts and five sub appearances without scoring a goal.
Liam Rosenior, who was on loan with the Blues from Reading during 2009/10, joined the Tigers last season.
Town’s 2010/11 Player of the Year Jimmy Bullard won’t be involved with his Hull exit expected soon after his suspension for an alleged indiscretion on the club’s pre-season trip to Slovenia.
City manager Pearson was close to becoming the Town boss in 2006 but lost out to Jim Magilton having made it on to a short list of two.
Historically, the Tigers just have the edge on the Blues having won nine of the games between the teams, while Town have been victorious eight times and a further nine matches have been draws. The teams have never met in a cup competition.
In February, in the last match between the sides at Portman Road, sub Jay Simpson grabbed a late point for Hull after Jason Scotland looked to have put the Blues on their way to their third successive home league win under Paul Jewell.
Town had impressed in a goalless first half but it took until the 58th for Scotland to break the deadlock with a low 20-yard shot. However, with five minutes remaining, Simpson looped home a back header.
In November, Robert Koren’s deflected 25-yard second half strike was enough to give Hull a 1-0 win at the KC Stadium. 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.
Prior to the match, BBC Radio Suffolk’s Life’s a Pitch (midday to 2pm) will be coming live from Alderman Road rec.
Presenter Mark Murphy invites all fans to come down and meet Blues legend Kevin Beattie, while former full-back Fabian Wilnis, whose side vv Heerjansdam face Ipswich Wanderers in a friendly on Saturday evening, will also be along, as will football’s youngest pundit Tractorboy and TWTD’s Phil Ham.
The club and Adnams have also introduced a new Early Birds Rewards scheme for the beer-loving Blue.
Saturday’s referee is Danny McDermid from Hampshire, who showed 109 yellow and seven red cards in 31 games last season. McDermid’s most recent Town game was the 3-1 home defeat to Reading in March in which he booked David Norris and two Royals.
Squad from: Stockdale, Lee-Barrett, Edwards, Cresswell, Delaney, Smith, Ainsley, Kennedy, Leadbitter, Bowyer, Andrews, Emmanuel-Thomas, Martin, Carson, Healy, Drury, Chopra, Scotland, Ellington.