‘My ancient Skoda’s done 300,000 miles, but I’ll be driving down to Plymouth hoping City haven’t blown a gasket’
ALL TO PLAY FOR: Liam Rosenior. Picture by Hull City
Eye of the Tigers, with Sam Hawcroft
The play-off race is hotting up
It feels a bit strange to be writing this after two weeks of no football.
It’s been an odd hiatus in the middle of the increasingly tense race to secure a play-off spot, like pressing pause during that boulder bit in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
While I’ve missed City – of course I have – I would be lying if I didn’t say a small part of me has enjoyed a blissful fortnight free from existential despair, mental torture and crushed hopes.
As we went to press, there were nine games left to play and, since the last edition of The Hull Story, the chase has narrowed quite considerably.
The top three have broken away and are jostling for position, while Southampton and West Brom look good for fourth and fifth. It really is all about sixth, now, barring any spectacular capitulations.
And the Tigers’ inability to put games away has really cost them in recent weeks – four draws on the bounce suggests we’re hard to beat, but it also highlights the fact that we struggle with winning lately.
The Leicester match was fantastic entertainment, especially for the neutral, and, while City put on a great show against the table-toppers, there’s no escaping the fact the Tigers surrendered their lead twice. With no matches to play in the following weeks, City were soon overtaken by Norwich.
The Tigers have a game in hand, but so do Coventry and Preston right behind them. Each is within a win or two of snatching sixth. It’s so close – the most important Easter weekend we’ve faced in years… and the second of a brace of bank holiday games just so happens to be against Leeds, the new league leaders on goal difference.
The laws of TypicalCity would dictate that we may well do better against our West Yorkshire rivals than against lowly Stoke City on Good Friday, but nevertheless, there’s potential for embarrassment – and the fact it falls on April Fool’s Day will provide the cherry on top for Twitter wags and headline writers alike. Don’t slip up at Elland Road, City… I implore you. Anywhere but there!
That one promises to be a powder keg off the pitch, too, as the kick-off has been moved to 8pm for the benefit of the Sky TV cameras. Leeds United v Hull City after a full day of bank holiday boozing. Can’t see what could possibly go wrong with that… Indeed, it’s mystifying that the time change was allowed.
Notably, this is City’s first match at Elland Road since the takeover by Acun Ilicali – but the flying of the Turkish flag there is particularly sensitive, after two Leeds fans were brutally stabbed to death at the 2000 UEFA Cup semi-final against Galatasaray. It is also just days from the 24th anniversary of the incident, which happened on April 5, 2000.
TRUSTY STEED: Sam’s car
The ugly spectre of “tragedy chanting” has reared its head elsewhere a fair bit in recent weeks, so I fervently hope that, however heightened things get in the stands, City fans don’t lower themselves to this – and that they leave the Turkish flags at home for one day.
It shouldn’t need saying, but, well, times are changing, and people seem to have shorter memories than ever – so, please, keep the banter strictly football.
Speaking of kick-off time changes, the 3pm match on the last day of the season has been moved forward to 12.30pm on May 4 for every fixture in the league. That is a standard move and should have been expected… but for those who were planning to head down to Plymouth – a minimum of six hours by car – it has thrown something of a spanner in the works.
Going to the South Coast was something I had initially considered, dismissed as bonkers, and then reconsidered when I realised just how big a match it could be. It could be the one that seals our top six spot. Or it could be a dead rubber. We just don’t know… but I figure missing it is a risk I don’t want to take.
So, I have booked an additional night in an Airbnb and I will ready my ancient chariot for an epic journey (20-year-old Skoda with nearly 300,000 miles on the clock, for those who don’t follow my semi-regular ramblings about it on Twitter).
This season’s been a hell of a ride already, and we must keep a bit of perspective and remember how far we’ve come under Liam Rosenior. Sure, it’ll be mightily disappointing if we don’t make the play-offs this year, after hanging around sixth place for most of this campaign – but for now, strap in, and let’s see how the next few weeks go.