The Tigers have turned themselves into one of the early play-off contenders
Portsmouth manager John Mousinho admits the Hull City that survived on the final day of last season at Fratton Park is a very different animal from the one his side will face on Saturday afternoon.
City avoided relegation from the Championship on a nerve-shredding afternoon on the South Coast back in May with a point, but will host the Blues at the MKM Stadium, sitting just outside the play-offs.
Under boss Sergej Jakirovic, City have been a side transformed and had won four and drawn two of their previous six games before Tuesday night’s late defeat at Derby County courtesy of a defensive howler. That defeat, Mousinho felt, was harsh on the Tigers, who had dominated the second half before their late error.
Pompey, though, sit 20th and ended their three-game losing run with a goalless draw against Wrexham 24 hours later and will arrive in East Yorkshire without a win on the road since the opening weekend of the season, and without a goal in the last six hours of football.
Mousinho, though, is under no illusions about the task facing his side in front of the MKM Stadium’s biggest crowd of the season, but remains confident his attacking players can do the business and end their drought.
“We went into the past two breaks with wins and want another positive result to calm everything down and leave us in a good place to attack the rest of the season,” he said. “It’s really important that we take some momentum from what was an improved performance against Wrexham when we go to Hull.
“They’re a different side from the one that narrowly avoided relegation last season and have enjoyed an impressive start to the current campaign. There’s a new manager and a lot of new players. We felt they were unlucky not to get anything at Derby earlier in the week.
“We’ll have to be at our best, and there’s a big emphasis on everyone in our team to create a bit more and show a ruthless streak to put the ball in the back of the net. But you look at our forward line on Wednesday and there are guys like Colby (Bishop), Conor (Chaplin) and Josh (Murphy) who have plenty of goals in them.”
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