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Hull to finally see top-flight football

By Matt | May 23, 2008

HULL CITY can reach the top level of English football for the first time ever this weekend – and the 13/10 odds on them beating Bristol City in 90 minutes to do so looks a decent bet.

Those betting odds are generally available for the time being – and I’m staking ten points on the Tigers beating the Robins on Saturday.

Hull is the largest city in England to never have hosted top-flight football – and neither has its team ever played at Wembley. Both those facts, which have hung like millstones around long-suffering Tigers fans’ necks, can be laid to rest in the Coca-Cola Championship play-off final.

Phil Brown’s team produced an amazing run-in to reach the Wembley showpiece, with few expecting much in the New Year when they were 33/1 to be promoted.

But wins against some of their biggest promotion rivals – notably when Watford were put to the sword at a foggy KC Stadium in March – have put Hull within touching distance of the Premier League.

Fraizer Campbell, a striker on loan from Manchester United, has been instrumental in the Tigers’ promotion push, and he is one of the reasons for my confidence about landing the gamble.

Dele Adebola – who I remember watching play for Crewe Alexandra against QPR what seems like a lifetime ago – just doesn’t compare on the Bristol City frontline.

I have nothing but respect for Michael McIndoe and Scott Murray, but the Robins’ form has faltered of late. I felt they were boxing above their weight all season, and I think Saturday is when that fact will hit home.

Selection
• 10 points Hull City to beat Bristol City in 90 minutes (13/10, general)

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