Tomorrow’s visit to Portman Road of struggling Hull City has been labelled a must-win game by Town skipper Luke Chambers.

Nigel Adkins’s team come to town fresh from a remarkable 4-3 triumph over Norwich at the weekend, the Tigers opening the score but having to roar back from being 3-1 down to claim victory and climb to 18th place, six points above the Championship drop zone.

Chambers said: “I think Hull is a must-win game. We’ve got to take that pressure in the dressing room and when we walk out to face Hull we have to take the pressure then as well.

“If we want to achieve something, albeit there’s only a slight hope that we can reach the play-offs, we need to be beating a team like that, especially as they are fighting for their lives.”

The captain was asked if he felt Town fans were right to be disappointed at the weekend by the 0-0 home stalemate with Sheffield United and he responded: “We could have taken points off them and got ourselves in a better position to try to challenge for the play-offs. For me it was very, very disappointing that we didn’t win the game.

“But if we can win tomorrow night it will be three wins and a draw from four games, 10 points from 12, and that’s a big points haul compared to our form over recent months.

“It was also a clean sheet against Sheffield United and we’re looking to build on it against Hull. We haven’t actually conceded too many goals in our last eight or nine games, so that is pleasing, but we need to be better going forward.”

Town have only netted twice in eight home games in all competitions and are without a goal in their last four. “We all need to do a bit more going forward,” added Chambers. “We need to chip in with goals right, left and centre.

“We’ve had boys who have done very, very well this season — Waggy and Garns are in double figures, Bersant’s chipped in with nine and a lot of assists — and that’s just singling out three players.

“I’ve scored one goal this season and that’s not good enough. Jordan’s scored three but we need them from all over the pitch.

“Maybe we need to make that extra yard to get ourselves in the box and take a chance to try to score goals and try to win games a bit more than we probably have done.”

Town have 10 games remaining this season and Chambers will be doing his best to ensure there is no repeat of last season’s late collapse that saw them harvest only 11 points from a possible 30, leaving them with a 16th-place finish, the club’s lowest in 58 years.

He said: “The manager has said he thinks the top six is beyond us but we don’t want to admit it.

“We’ll still be fighting tooth and nail to get ourselves as high up the league as we can and if that takes us into contention for the play-offs, brilliant. Until it’s mathematically out of our hands I won’t be giving up on that.

“We’ve talked about injuries and I’ve heard a lot about the pitch this week.

"It’s terrible but other teams have got to come and play on it as well, so we need to make that an advantage for us or perform better. I don’t want to give up on what we set out to achieve this season.

“The last few weeks have definitely been more encouraging and we’ve definitely put in better performances, both individually and collectively, especially defensively, and our away form has been good.

“There are definitely positives at the moment but we understand people’s frustrations at the weekend.

“I think, if we’d had a fully-fit squad all season, we’d have definitely been in a stronger position and would have been in contention.

“Don’t get me wrong, we’ve made mistakes like every team in this league, but we’ve been fairly consistent and find ourselves in mid-table.

"It’s not where we want to be but we’re still fighting way above where we probably should be in terms of budget.

“I don’t want to keep going over the same things but these things do come into contention.

"If we’d had all the players that the manager signed in the summer, and we’d been able to call on all our midfielders for the whole season, it might have been different.

“We might have played better football and we might have scored more goals — but these are all ifs and buts.”

Photo: TWTD

Wacko added 18:57 - Mar 12 It's not. Every other game before we fell back into our usual mid-table obscurity was a must-win game
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Mark added 19:00 - Mar 12 I am glad Chambo thinks like this, but is seems the manager does not. Surely Sheff Utd was a 'must win' game to keep any faint play-off hope alive? Yet MM said after the match “...I'd take a 0-0 draw. You can't take it off us that point.” Even against 10-man QPR MM said afterwards "I'll take a draw — even when he got sent off."
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Cakeman added 19:04 - Mar 12 Oh please and how many times have we heard this?
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jpring89 added 19:05 - Mar 12 I'm sure we will dig in a secure a narrow defeat. It is as good as dead rubber game for us. No point in making out we have any chance of making top 6. Just like there's no chance we go down. Get shot of Mick. Don't understand the fannying around.
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OldClactonBlue added 19:08 - Mar 12 "We haven't conceded too many." With nine defenders in the team I should hope not! Unfortunately that's only one aspect of the game.
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whosroundisitanyway added 19:24 - Mar 12 Sorry Chambo, Saturday was the must win against a team above us and we didn't even give it a fuk!n go. Every game is a must win for Hull though, and you know what? at least they're showing some commitment for that cause. We didn't have a shot on goal second half on Saturday. I'm not looking forward to playing the 'in form' team.
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TimmyH added 19:44 - Mar 12 Crikey this one is a 'must win' as opposed to the 'massive' ones of recent times - any difference Luke?
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Dissboyitfc added 19:46 - Mar 12 I read the headline and my initial thought was "why", the boat has already sailed! Saturday was must win and we didnt!
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black_shuck added 19:48 - Mar 12 Sometimes you don't need to hear their excuses or what they have to say for themselves because their actions already spoke the truth.
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Theipswich added 20:15 - Mar 12 Evidently Saturday was not a must-win game judging by the shots on goal ratio and tactics. Pathetic....
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lightingblue added 20:51 - Mar 12 In all due respect, if your football was as good as your gob, we would be in the champions league by now. Have you ever thought of keeping quite and let your football do the talking. Or is it the case that you're so bad, you have to talk your way out of situations and talk up a big game. In the fans eyes, the Norwich game is the biggest two games of the season. Defend properly and may just maybe we could've got 4 points. Draw at home and not letting in a pub side standard goal for their equaliser. That was basic defending my sons under 10 team gets taught. Towards the end of the game and the ball goes towards your goal, you launch it out the ground. It hasn't been sexy for while now so why start now. I'm sure my 6 year old concentrates in class better than you lot most games.

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BrandonsBlues added 07:03 - Mar 13 they are all must win games, just the manager thinks they are all must draw games and see if can nick/hold on to win IF we score.
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massivemole added 07:07 - Mar 13 Let's see what the 5 defenders and 3 holding midfielders will create tonight then. #nosh1tsherlock
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therein61 added 07:43 - Mar 13 The "spin" drivel that comes from the chosen few is as predictable and dire as the great leaders selection policy, I expect the premiership class no/8 will be next.
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Barty added 08:02 - Mar 13 When will all the crap end !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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lightingblue added 10:43 - Mar 13 Mr Chambers. With all this talking things up. Instead of becoming a manager, you should become a dodgy 2nd hand car dealer.
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