IPSWICH Town boss Roy Keane’s future is not quite hanging by a thread, but he will be desperately hoping that his side’s run of “threes” ends at Hull City this afternoon.

IPSWICH Town boss Roy Keane’s future is not quite hanging by a thread, but he will be desperately hoping that his side’s run of “threes” ends at Hull City this afternoon.

Town lost three games on the bounce in October, before winning three on the spin to burst into the Championship play-off zone.

But Keane’s men have since lost back-to-back home games to Derby and Barnsley, and they face a tough task to avoid the sequence of three-same-results continuing on Humberside.

And continuing on the “three” theme, Town’s next trio of fixtures could well determine Keane’s long-term future at Portman Road.

Football is a very fickle business - it’s results-based and also very emotionally charged, a heady mixture.

Keane has enjoyed the backing of owner and chairman Marcus Evans, and the bulk of Town’s fans, throughout his first 18 months on the hot-seat.

But many supporters have been expressing their doubts over the last 10 days, both in terms of their booing from the stands, and their letters and e-mails sent to this newspaper.

That’s why this afternoon’s visit to Hull City, who have lost their last three home games and are only one point above the relegation zone, is so vital.

And when combined with Town’s following “huge” fixtures, at deadly rivals Norwich City in the East Anglian derby and against West Brom in the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup, the importance of this period cannot be under-estimated.

Thinking positive, by the first week of December, Town could be in the thick of the play-off race and the semi-finals of the Carling Cup.

But then, looking at it in the bleakest terms, Keane’s men could have nose-dived down the table and been booted out of the League Cup by the classy Baggies.

That’s why the jury remains out, in terms of both this season and Keane’s long-term future.