THE no-fear approach that has seen Hull City surge to third place in the Championship is what will see them into the Premiership, according to defensive stalwart Wayne Brown.

Derek Davis

THE no-fear approach that has seen Hull City surge to third place in the Championship is what will see them into the Premiership, according to defensive stalwart Wayne Brown.

Hull need to win while Stoke are beaten at home by Leicester to go up automatically but the left-footed keystone of the Tigers defence insists all the pressure is on Ipswich to succeed on Sunday.

It is also a crucial game for Town, of course, as they need to win and hope that Palace, Wolves and Watford lose, for them to just edge into the top six. Hull are already ensconced in third place.

Brown said: “In the back of our heads we will want to know about Stoke but just like last Saturday against Palace all we can do is just win the game and see whatever comes from that.

“But just as in life I have learned not to worry about things you have no influence on. Ipswich are in exactly the same position, they have to win and see what happens elsewhere.

“The difference is it is all or nothing for them.

“With us we have nothing to lose. We are already in play-off third place so it is not the be-all and end-all. It we win then we may be able to sneak into the top two so we will come to Portman Road feeling very positive.

“Ipswich will be nervous and that could work either way for them.

“I mentioned about Walsall a few years ago and it was a weird atmosphere with the scores coming in from the crowd.

“We don't have that pressure on us whereas for Ipswich they have Wolves, Sheffield United, Watford and Palace to think about.”

Hull will finish no lower than third after going on a run of nine wins in 13 games since the end of February and surprising many with their softly-softly approach.

Brown said: “The thing we have had in our favour all along is we were under no pressure.

“If we had finished mid-table after last year, it would have been regarded as a success. The only pressure we have had has been brought on by ourselves to do better each time.”

Of course nothing has been won yet and the tantalising thought of reaching the top flight of English football for the first time in their 104-year history, has set the city of Hull ablaze with excitement.

Hull is the biggest city in England not to have had a team take part in the Premier League and after years of playing second fiddle to its rugby league sides, football is ready to steal the limelight.

Brown said: “It is fabulous for the city. The fans were probably thinking mid-table but that has not been the case and now it is pure excitement.

“I have always said our aim was top six and fans at the beginning of the season were probably reading the paper and thinking 'what's he on?” But each person the gaffer brought in has been a success and we have constantly built on performances. Now we have to build on the performance against Palace last Saturday and go on.

“Rugby plays a big part in the city with two teams doing very well but the football crowd has got bigger as the season has gone on and their support has been another reason we have done so well.”

The Tigers have sold their full allocation of 2,200 tickets for the game which is a nigh-on sell-out, and Brown is looking forward to his return to Town.

He said: “We will have another big following at Ipswich and they will help drive us on.

“It will be good to see some familiar faces and have a chat after the game. I still speak to Bam Bam (Richard Naylor) regularly.”