Hull’s bottle has Brown dreaming

His acknowledgement that such celebrations would be premature is still accurate despite his team moving out of the relegation zone with a hard-earned point.

Brown’s side, who entertain newly-crowned champions Manchester United on Sunday, lead 18th-placed Newcastle, who have a trip to Aston Villa to save their Premier League status, by a single point but with far worse goal difference.

Going on form, the most likely event on Sunday is that both teams lose and Hull, on the slide since November with two wins in 28 matches, stay up and while Brown remains bullish about his team’s prospects, the teams that finish 16th and 17th will only have survived by default. Not that they will care one jot.