Hull form 'right up there' in play-off bid - Rosenior

Liam Rosenior says Hull City are performing like a top-four team as they prepare for a game that could see them sneak into the Championship play-offs.

The Tigers can still claim a top-six position after a six-match unbeaten run kept them within reach of both Norwich and West Brom, who occupy the last two places.

Hull will realistically rely on the Baggies losing at home to Preston, in which case a win at relegation-troubled Plymouth would see them sneak into sixth on the final day.

Norwich only need a point at Birmingham, who are also fighting for their Championship lives, to fend off Rosenior’s side, and a defeat would also be enough unless Hull can overturn the Canaries’ seven-goal advantage in goal difference.

After winning three - including a crunch away victory at fellow play-off contenders Coventry - and drawing three of their last six, Rosenior feels his team have been playing at the same level as the teams contesting automatic promotion.

“The top four have been far away from us in terms of points but in terms of performances we have been right up there,” he told BBC Radio Humberside.

“If we play to that level on Saturday, against a really, really physical, strong team who have a great motivation themselves, all we can affect is our own performance and give ourselves the best opportunity to win.”

Plymouth know anything less than a win would mean they go down if Birmingham beat Norwich, and a heavy defeat means they could even be relegated if the Blues earn a draw.

Rosenior, who will be without loanee Burnley winger Anass Zaroury through injury, has no doubts that Preston, whose own play-off hopes only faded in the closing weeks of the season, will not lie down at The Hawthorns.

“The Championship is so hard and every team on their day can beat everybody,” he said. “Having played in it, coached in it and now managed it, it’s the most honest league in the world.

“Some players are fighting for contracts, managers are fighting to show they can move the club forward in any league in England. There’s an honesty and integrity to our game that I love.

“Not just Preston, but every team in the league give their all in every game and when you get to the last game of the season, it’s not that last game that defines you, it’s the whole 46 games.

“If we make it, it’s because we’ve got 73 points and eight times out of 10 that’s enough to get you in the play-offs. If we don’t make it, it’s because we didn’t get enough points over the season.”