We look a little bit wary of sticking our neck on the line

“The key to this game was team selection. We had vital players back from injury and they played a vital part in the game. I don't want to mention individuals as it was a great team performance and hopefully we'll now go into the Sheffield Wednesday game with our tails up and with a renewed confidence.”

It was a result that will help Brown in his quest to become the new manager at Hull and he admitted yesterday that he wants the job and sees it as a great opportunity to get his career back on track after the disappointments of Derby last season.

For Steve Cotterill it was another desperately difficult afternoon bringing with it a second successive defeat and a third game without a goal and he highlighted this after the game.

“If you don't take your chances, you don't deserve anything,” he said. “At the moment we are not taking those chances and that leaves us on tenterhooks a little bit. We are defending like that at the minute and we are probably lacking a bit of belief. If a goal was scored against us earlier in the season it wasn't causing us a problem in any shape or form, but at the minute it is like we need to get the first goal.

“With the games coming thick and fast at this time of the season, if you get beat in the first one or two it makes the others very difficult because there is not enough time to lift yourself and that is probably what we are having to deal with at the moment.”

He compared the squad sizes of the two clubs. “It's funny because we were playing against a side with a much bigger squad that us and yet they are down at the foot of the table and we're not. That's probably a credit to my players and how good they have been for the majority of the season.

“When it gets a bit heavy, games wise, it probably just catches up with us. Confidence in players drains away if you keep pushing them and it seems that might be happening for us at the moment. They are giving enough effort, that is unquestionable. We just need something to drop for us because we feel at the moment we are better than the results are suggesting.”

There was a surprise return for John McGreal yesterday from the bench and the manager explained things. “We would have liked to play John, and that would have given us that steadiness at the back. I spoke to him and the physio and he said he would be substitute, but we needed that calmness very early in the game, so we made the changes very early to see if we could get back into it.”

And on Kyle Lafferty he sad: “I always said when Kyle came into the side that the first few games wouldn't be a problem for him. I felt it might come three, four or five games down the line. We just thought we would try Steve and see if we could get a different spark that way.

“They changed their team because they thought he would be on the left win and he'd had a good game against them at Turf Moor. We hoped to catch them with that one but Steve was probably one of our most disappointing players. He's been a revelation this season, but he looks to be the tired on for me.”

“I thought after half time the lads showed plenty of courage but we just missed that finishing touch and at this moment we are missing that person to stick the ball in the back of the net. It doesn't necessarily mean Andy Gray, but we need someone in there because we look a little bit wary of sticking our neck on the line in case we get moaned or groaned at for missing a chance.”