Hull City boss Liam Rosenior insists the Tigers’ home game against Town, a match which he describes as his team’s cup final, kicking off at 8pm on Saturday is an advantage in the race for the final play-off places.

The Tigers are seventh, three points behind Norwich City and West Brom in the final play-off places with all three sides having two games to play.

If the Canaries beat Swansea at Carrow Road and the Baggies win at Sheffield Wednesday in the afternoon ahead of Town’s game at the MKM Stadium, then Hull would be out of the running for a top-six place, barring an unlikely goal difference turnaround.

But despite that, Rosenior is happy with the timing of their game against the Blues.

“I think it’s a benefit for us to be playing at 8pm for many reasons,” he told the Yorkshire Post.

“We can sit back and see what happens around us. But it also gives us an extra few hours and every hour counts now in terms of our recovery.

“We are going to have to pick a really fit, strong and organised team to go up against an outstanding team.”

Rosenior, a one-time Town loanee, says he needs a full stadium and fans to get behind his team: “We have got to fill the ground and make it the loudest stadium in the country. It’s our cup final.

“Ipswich have had two weeks to prepare and plan for us and we have got two days to recover, rest and go again.

“We are playing against a great team, a proper team. Kieran [McKenna], another outstanding coach at this level, has done an incredible job.

“It’s heart-on-sleeve time and at the moment, every time this group of players have been asked a question in terms of performance, they are consistently putting in very good performances. Let’s not make it the last one [home game], let’s keep going.”

Rosenior has an almost fully fit squad but with on-loan Burnley winger Anass Zaroury expected to return from a groin problem which has seen him miss the last four matches.

Photo: TWTD

Gforce added 10:13 - Apr 26 Obviously hope we put in great performance, but Hull will be well up for this one and it will be a very difficult match. That's exactly why we need QPR to get something out of the Leeds match. In case heaven forbid we lose at Hull,we would get a second bite of the cherry at Coventry on Tuesday.
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RIPbobby added 10:18 - Apr 26 Our cup quarter final if you like.
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Stu_boy added 12:05 - Apr 26 If wba and ncfc both win, hull will feel deflated and it's not really a cup final for them then
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backwaywhen added 12:43 - Apr 26 Nice bit of extra pressure for his players …….nice one .
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BlueWax added 13:10 - Apr 26 Deffo Stu boy,,Norwich will win 3-2 and West brom win 1 nil
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Europablue added 15:10 - Apr 26 Hull don't have a track record of performing well in cup finals.
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MK1 added 15:31 - Apr 26 Big, big game for both sides. The rest would have done wonders for us and hopefully at least Burns back from injury. Them going for it should suit us better than if they just looked for a draw. See us winning, but it is going to be tough.
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JewellintheTown added 17:54 - Apr 26 8pm will do us especially a favour. We seem to do best when we fall behind, so points gaps above us in the table should spur us on, especially with Leeds playing their penultimate game tonight. Huddersfield at home with the crowd behind us could be the loudest it's been at PR. Even louder than that goal vs Southampton!
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HighgateBlue added 19:07 - Apr 26 The great thing about cup finals is that if you win them, you get a shiny trophy and don't have to play any more games in that competition. If Hull beat us, they're still highly likely to miss out on even making the playoffs. It's not really their cup final is it, let's be honest?
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Michael101 added 22:24 - Apr 26 What a stupid kick orfts time, Yet a another thing sly TV have ruined about football
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MK1 added 08:29 - Apr 27 Stu_boy. Exactly this. By the time we play them, they may already have nothing to play for.
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