Sponsored by
Hull v Watford: Hughes wants Tigers to focus
BRYAN Hughes has urged his Hull team-mates to forget about the prospect of appearing at Wembley later this month and focus on progressing past Watford in tonight's Coca-Cola Championship play-off semi-final second leg.
Thanks to a 2-0 win in the first leg on Sunday, the Tigers are on the brink of reaching the home of English football for the first time in the club's 104-year history.
Promotion to the Barclays Premier League is now firmly on the radar of ex-Halifax Town player Phil Brown's side, but midfielder Hughes has sounded a note of caution amid rising expectation levels in and around the KC Stadium and has demanded a decent showing against the Hornets.
"To come away from Watford with a 2-0 win on Sunday has obviously raised excitement around the area and the profile of Hull has obviously gone up again as everyone thinks we're going to Wembley," said Hughes.
"Obviously, we've got another game to go yet and we've got to stay focussed - the job is not finished yet.
"You can get into a bit of complacency where you've got a two-goal lead and you defend for your lives, but that's not what we are about. At home this season we've proved we'll try to score goals and I can't see us being any different tonight.
"I've never played at Wembley, but I was there a few weeks ago to watch the FA Cup semi-final between West Brom and Portsmouth and I sampled it then.
"It is an unbelievable stadium and obviously it is the talk of the town now everyone thinks we're going to Wembley.
"But we are trying to stay focussed and we've still got a job to do. Until we finish that job off we can't think of Wembley."
Hughes has a remarkable track record where the play-offs are concerned, suffering heartache at the semi-final stage with Birmingham in 1999, 2000 and 2001 before helping Blues reach the Premier League with victory over Norwich in the final in May 2002.
Email to a friend
Print this page- A58 crash UPDATE: road now re-open after man hit by car earlier this morning
- Crash on the A58 in Halifax this morning UPDATE: Man in hospital with several broken bones
- Taxi worker dies aged 35 after finishing his shift
- Man suffers serious injuries in accident on M62
- How the new Halifax Central Library will look
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Halifax
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Light snow
Temperature: -5 C to -0 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -1 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South west
