City prepare for a stern test against Teessiders

TIGERS LOOK TO MOVE BACK INTO TOP SIX

- By BARRY COOPER

Boro manager Kim Hellberg

HULL City are back in action this evening when they host Middlesbrough, looking to move back into the Championship's top six ahead of the weekend's games, knowing victory would take them third for a few hours at least.

Last Saturday's dramatic 2-1 win at Stoke City ended a run of successive defeats for Sergej Jakirovic's men, which had seen them drop out of the playoff zone and down into 11th.

Boro, who are now under the management of Swede Kim Hellberg, were 2-1 winners over Derby County at the Riverside Stadium last weekend in his first outing as manager.

The visit of the Teessiders also sees the return of ex-City man Alfie Jones, who notched an impressive 191 appearances for the Tigers before moving to the North East in the summer.

We chatted with Teesside Live's Boro reporter Craig Johns to get the lowdown on City's opponents ahead of the showdown...

It’s already been such a dramatic season on Teesside, thanks largely to the recent Rob Edwards debacle. Arriving in the summer with his stick pretty low after the decline at Luton Town, it’s fair to say that he wasn’t many fans’ first choice.

Credit where it’s due, he dramatically changed Boro’s style after two-and-a-half years of Michael Carrick, focusing on a defensive-minded approach that made Boro’s foundations far more solid than they'd been for a long time.

It worked, with Boro enjoying a fantastic start to the season in comparison to recent years. Boro have been notoriously slow starters until this year.