Brown - Eyes on the Tigers

02 April 2009 11:21
Phil Brown has warned his Hull City players to avoid the temptation of looking for the results of their relegation rivals.[LNB] The Tigers currently hold a four-point cushion over the bottom three with eight games of the season remaining with eight clubs still in the fight to avoid the drop.[LNB]Brown insists last season's play-off winners must focus solely on their own matches and not hope for other results to go in their favour.[LNB]Fellow strugglers Portsmouth are their first opponents on Saturday as they head to the KC Stadium for what is expected to be a tense tussle.[LNB]Brown told the Hull Daily Mail: "If you start looking at other things such as other teams' results and start relying on them, then you're in trouble.[LNB]"At 5pm you can look up at the results of other teams but the job in hand is purely about the 90 minutes.[LNB]"It's easy for me to keep my focus. I've had a career of focusing on my team, myself and my performance.[LNB]"In my own head, I'm well versed at focusing only on what is in front of us and that is only Portsmouth for now."[LNB]ConcentrateThe clash with Pompey is followed by two more encounters against clubs battling the drop as Hull travel to Middlesbrough and then Sunderland.[LNB]Brown added: "If we win, you're looking forward to the Middlesbrough game.[LNB]"If you lose and you're dragged more and more into a relegation battle, then you start looking at other results and get uptight.[LNB]"That's how important it is just to concentrate on our own 90 minutes and make sure we get that win."[LNB]The Tigers boss is happy to have their Premier League fate in their own hands and has urged his side to recapture their early-season form which saw them in the upper reaches of the table.[LNB]He said: "The cushion we've got gives us some breathing space, but only if we maintain it.[LNB]"We have to maintain two things. One, that we stay out of the bottom three, and two, that we make sure it's in our own hands right until the end of the season. As long as we've got that, I won't have a problem with us.[LNB]"The challenge is to finish strongly and get back to that early-season form."[LNB]

Source: SKY_Sports