Hull can be heroes at 13-5

Hull City have what it takes to win the Coca-Cola Championship play-offs and, in the process, reach the Premier League for the first time in their 104-year history.

Skybet make Hull a best-priced 13-5 to reach the top flight and, after being in contention for automatic promotion until the final day of the regular season, that looks fair value.

The Tigers have a great chance of reaching the final because Watford, their semi-final opponents, were dire in the final third of the season. Aidy Boothroyd’s side won only one of their last 14 fixtures - including a 3-0 defeat at Hull — and managed just ten goals during this period.

Provided Hull overcome Watford, they will meet Crystal Palace or Bristol City in the final. Palace, no bigger than 2-1 favourites to win the play-offs, ended the season with great momentum and it will be a surprise if that does not carry them past City, who, like Watford, rather struggled over the line. Whether Palace should be favourites to overcome Hull, though, is another matter.

The Tigers have enjoyed a memorable campaign and it speaks volumes for their progress that their goal difference was superior to all bar West Bromwich Albion, the champions.

Phil Brown’s team are wonderfully industrious and pride themselves in playing decent football. They have a great blend of experience and youth, too, with forwards Dean Windass, who still has an eye for goal at the age of 39, and Fraizer Campbell, a 20-year-old loan signing from Manchester United, being prime examples.

They make quite a double act, while Caleb Folan has made a habit of scoring after coming off the substitute’s bench.

Defenders Sam Ricketts, Michael Turner and Wayne Brown have barely missed a match all season and that remark is also applicable to California-born goalkeeper Boaz Myhill. The quartet helped Hull concede fewer goals than all bar Leicester City during the normal season.

Hull drew 1-1 at Palace earlier in the season and beat them 2-1 on home soil at the end of last month. A third encounter, perhaps with a similar outcome, looks on the cards.