Six points since New Year's Day. That's some record for a Championship team who looked like they had an outside chance of the play-offs at the turn of the year.

Fast forward to July, and the victory against Middlesbrough seems like a distant memory to many Hull City fans. Three defeats on the spin have seen the Tigers fall back into the relegation spots, with only three games left to save their season.

  • "I'm the manager of this football club so I'll take the brunt no problem"

Speaking to BBC Radio Humberside Journalist David Burns after the full time whistle, McCann was defensive from the get-go and he did not react well to questions surrounding his own position becoming untenable.

“I would rather take the brunt (and not the players)", he said. “I’m the manager of this football club so I’ll take the brunt no problem. We have got a firm belief in this group and we’ll look to get a response in these next three games."

  • "All I've got to do is focus on my job here"

When it was put to him by Burns that many fans wanted to see McCann get the boot, the Northern Irishman simply replied, "No comment. In football everyone has got a lot of opinions, of course they have. They’re entitled to their opinion. But all I’ve got to do is focus on my job here. I will do that. We will try and get this group to stay up".

“Everyone is doing what they can. One thing I would never do is question their endeavour and work-rate. You’ve seen that in the six games since we’ve come back.

“We haven’t won the games we wanted to so far but we have to go on to the next one now and see if we can get a response at Wigan.”

Hull's away game at Wigan Athletic on Tuesday couldn't be bigger, with Wigan potentially facing a twelve point deduction. However, should the Latics win against the Tigers, they would draw level on points with the East Yorkshire side - even if they were deducted the points.

Should that happen, and it may be a case of when - and not if - McCann leaves his post as Hull City manager. One thing is for sure, if Hull lose, they will be in real danger of returning to the third tier of English football for the first time since 2005.