Hull City are still in with a chance of reaching the Championship play-offs and face Norwich City at home on Saturday
Paddy McNair (Image: Sean Troup/Shutterstock)
Paddy McNair insists Hull City’s promotion dreams are still alive despite their form dropping off at the worst possible time.
The Tigers go into Saturday’s showdown with Norwich City on the back of four draws and two defeats in their last half-dozen games.
Last weekend they came from a goal down to be 1-1 with Charlton Athletic, only for Jayden Fevrier to score what turned out to be a winner and leave Sergej Jakirovic’s men empty-handed.
Thankfully Wrexham lost to Coventry City the next day and the Tigers remain out of the top six on goal difference alone.
And McNair, who was introduced after just 11 minutes when Eliot Matazo suffered a heart-wrenching knee injury, encouraged his side to keep going until the final whistle of the final match.
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“It’s frustrating, we came to the [Charlton] game with confidence to win the game and I think it took a while to get going in the first half, they scored a great goal and I thought we grew into it at the start of the second half.
“I thought we were a better team and then the goal again is a bit of a sucker punch. It’s a goal we can definitely stop.
“As frustrating [Saturday] is we’ve still got a chance and we just have to look at it that way. I know results recently haven’t been what we’ve wanted but I think if anyone said at the start of the season we’d be in this position, I think they’d all take it.
“As hard as it is sometimes to put a positive spin on it, we’ve got a chance Saturday and I think we just need to regroup and just go for it.”
For McNair it is important not to dwell on the fact that little more than a month ago, City had beaten Sheffield Wednesday, were fifth and just three points off third.
Since then they have failed to beat Oxford, Coventry, Sheffield United, Birmingham City, Leicester – and now Charlton.
“It’s frustrating,” he said. “I think within those six games we’ve been unlucky in one or two, especially when you look back at the Sheffield United one.
“But those games, they’re in the past now and I think the worst thing you can do is, ‘Oh what if that game we could have done this?’
“I think we just have to, as frustrating as [Saturday] was, clear our heads go in and it’s all to play for on the last day.”
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