1 week Ago By [email protected] (Barry Cooper)
Hull City's 1-0 loss at Watford on Tuesday night saw the Tigers slip a point closer to the relegation zone with their three-point cushion cut after their rivals all picked up valuable results. It means City remain firmly locked in the relegation battle to avoid what would be an embarrassing relegation from the Championship, just 12 months on from competing for a place in the play-offs and a possible shot at Premier League football. Those dreams are nothing but a distant and painful memory for City fans, and now, Sky Sports summariser Andy Hinchcliffe has done little to ease their worries.
Hinchcliffe, a regular on Sky Sports' Championship coverage, believes the battle will go all the way to the final weekend of the season, which sees the Tigers travel to fellow strugglers Portsmouth, meaning the Tigers supporters may well face plenty of sleepiness nights between now and May 3. Victory at Vicarage Road would have increased their gap to safety to five points, but instead, City must now face the prospect of being outside the bottom three on goal difference by the time they next play on Monday night against Coventry City, if results go against them on Saturday. "Looking at the table, I'm probably going up to 17th or 18th to probably Portsmouth and Oxford," he said on Sky Sports News.
"I think over the last five seasons, the average points you need to stay in the Championship is around 46 or 47. It might be a little bit lower this season because of the form of the teams down there, but I was looking at the remaining fixtures as well, and there's actually eight games between the sides in the bottom eight in the division, so there's a lot to be decided when those teams play each other. "OK, you can get points, but also confidence can be built and knocked if things don't go well.
Final day of the season, you've got Derby against Stoke and you've got Hull against Portsmouth. I do feel even though it's really congested down there, it is going to go, I feel to the final game of the season. A win could make all the difference in terms of staying in the division on the final day.
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