Hull manager Grant McCann believes his side are beginning to prove their promotion worth after watching them dismantle Fulham 3-0 at Craven Cottage.
It was the Tigers’ third successive win after beating Nottingham Forest and Derby in their previous two Championship fixtures.
McCann said: “I thought we played well today. We’ve come to one of the best sides in the division.
“In transition we were good and we caused them problems every time we turned the ball over. I was pleased with the performance.
“I’ve always had belief, but it’s probably taken time for everybody at the football club to believe that we can challenge for the top six. We shouldn’t hide away from it. That is what our aim is.
“Even if we go and lose next week against West Brom, that aim won’t change from now until the end of the season.”
Told that his opposite number Scott Parker had called Hull “the best counter-attacking team in the division”, McCann attributed the compliment to work done on the training pitch during the week.
He added: “We work a lot on counter-attacking. Modern-day football is all about transition. A lot of our training and our work in the week goes into that and it’s no fluke when it happens on a Saturday. We work hard on it.
“When you‘ve got players like Jarrod Bowen, Kamil Grosicki, Jon Toral and others, they like to play like that and we’ve got people who can find them.
“The two passes from Jackson Irvine that set us off on the break for the second and third goals were outstanding.”
Understandably, McCann’s Fulham counterpart Scott Parker was upset, not just about the result but his side’s flatness in a performance largely devoid of attacking ideas.
Parker said: “It was a tough day. Today is probably the one day I sit here this season disappointed by the way we played, disappointed with the result and the way things panned out.
“We weren’t where we needed to be. We’ve had defeats this year, but I felt we were flat today.
“Ultimately what will determine how successful I am personally and how successful this team is is going to be moments like this. Cliche that it is, you’ve got to bounce back.”
Parker insisted that the disquiet at Craven Cottage and grumblings among certain sectors of the Fulham support that their side’s play is too slow at times could not be justified by facts.
Parker added: “The finger has been pointed at me since the first game of the season and I hear people saying that we are just a possession-based team who are slow and with no impetus.
“But we are top in this division on shots on goal and shots on target, so we’re obviously doing something right.
“I could understand people’s reaction to the way I want us to play if we weren’t creating chances and if we weren’t hitting the target. But you can’t back up that argument.
“The finger has been pointed at me since the first game regarding our style of play, but that’s how I want us to play and ultimately I feel that if we carry on like that, it will turn for us and that’s the team I want us to be. I will stick with it 100 per cent.”
