Hull City 1, Stoke City 2WHEN MANAGERS complain about their players "not being at the races" they are invariably talking metaphorically but last week Phil Brown experienced the syndrome literally. He had invited his Hull City first-teamers to a day out at Wednesday's Chester meeting and was disappointed when they unanimously declined this proffered turf-side treat, leaving him to take his backroom staff and a few reserves instead.

To those who believe Brown "lost" his dressingroom the moment he humiliated those players on the Eastlands pitch at half-time on St Stephen's Day, it represented yet another key stepping stone along the Hull manager's hubristic road to inevitable relegation and attendant ruin.

While there is some truth in this, it does not represent the whole story. Brown's early-season exuberance and failure to disguise his sizeable ego grated on many peers, thereby ensuring that an awful lot of schadenfreude surrounds Hull's collapse but there are other reasons why they have recorded only one Premier League win since early December.

Two are rooted in January. While Stoke's astute manager Tony Pulis secured survival by signing James Beattie and Matthew Etherington, Hull bought Jimmy Bullard from Fulham for €5.6 million only for the midfielder immediately to suffer a serious knee injury.

Moreover, having cut short Marlon King's loan from Wigan in the wake of a bitter row between Brown and the striker, they then borrowed Manucho, an ineffective centre forward, from Manchester United. "While we haven't missed Marlon we have missed a goal-scorer," said Brown. "But Bullard could have made a big difference."

Brown will be transfixed by his televison tonight, trusting Newcastle and Middlesbrough remain two points beneath Hull by drawing the Tyne-Tees derby. Whatever happens, he regards Saturday's trip to his old club, Bolton, as "must win".

As Andy Dawson confirmed, the psychological challenge involved will be immense, particularly in the wake of Saturday's setback. Although Hull's left back claimed an injury-time consolation courtesy of a superlative free-kick, Ricardo Fuller's and Liam Lawrence's earlier strikes had already ensured a Stoke victory which rubber stamped the visitors' continued Premier League status.

"The lads are devastated, totally gutted," said Dawson. "We have to somehow pick ourselves up for Bolton." But is Brown still the right man to lift a squad which refused to head west and bond with him last week? "We didn't go to Chester Races because we felt it wasn't the right thing to do," explained Dawson. "We appreciate the manager's trying everything to lift morale but the players felt it was better to stay here and prepare for Stoke."

So it had nothing to do with Brown's half-time freak-out during that drubbing at Manchester City? "What happened there was his decision and up to him," said Dawson. "But it's definitely not down to that game that we are where we are now. I wouldn't say it's had an effect. The manager's been fantastic."

Dawson has proved one of Brown's better performers but, stripped of their early-season adrenaline, too many team-mates have been found out at this level. On Saturday Hull lacked individuals to match the gifted Fuller, Lawrence and Glenn Whelan. The last controlled central midfield with consummate ease.

The only shame is the talent of Stoke seems constricted by a set-piece dependent, long-ball studded, painting-by-numbers system. "We won't change our DNA," said Pulis, whose admittedly hugely effective side are reminiscent of Bolton under Sam Allardyce. "If you get carried away, this league will kick you up the backside."

That sounded suspiciously like a dig at Brown. Indeed Hull's manager can only trust those at the Reebok who remember his days as Allardyce's highly-influential assistant take a rather more sympathetic view this weekend.

Guardian Service