Middlesbrough v Hull City: Championship’s uncertainty is thrill for Bruce

The Tigers travel to Middlesbrough sitting sixth in the table with 19 points from 11 games.

Tony Mowbray’s men boast an identical record but sit a place behind Hull on goal difference, meaning victory for the hosts tonight will be enough to guarantee a return to the top six for the first time in a month.

The pair are among nine clubs separated by just three points and Bruce believes the compact nature of the top half of the table vividly illustrates just why the second tier is considered to be among the most competitive in Europe.

The Hull manager last night told the Yorkshire Post: “We have to be pleased with our position but I also feel we could have quite easily been four or five points better off than we are.

“Mind, I expect there are a few managers in this division thinking like that at the moment. That is the beauty of the Championship to me. I’ve spent a lot of time in the Premier League in recent years and, of course, it is a wonderful competition to be part of.

“But there is something about the Championship that I do enjoy. It is a great division and one where you really don’t know what is going to happen next.

“In the Premier League, you can say with confidence before the season starts where most of the teams will roughly finish in the table. But that just isn’t the case in the Championship.

“Even now, 11 games into the season, could you predict with any confidence who is going to go up? I don’t think so.

“There are so many former Premier League clubs involved. All of them will have fancied their chances of making a challenge before the season started and I don’t think many of them can be dismissed at this stage.

“I looked at the Ipswich squad before Saturday’s game and thought what a good group of players they have: DJ Campbell, Danny Higginbotham, Carlos Edwards, the goalkeeper on loan from West Ham (Stephen Henderson) – they are all good players.

“Then there is Darryl Murphy, who played in the Premier League with Sunderland. All those good players and yet Ipswich are second bottom. I watched them recently against Cardiff and they did not look like a struggling team.

“But that is the Championship for you. It is why I still believe anything up to 18 teams could win promotion, even though we are almost a quarter into the season.”

Hull travel to Teesside having never won in four previous visits to the Riverside. Hull also failed to triumph in any of their final three games at Ayresome Park, meaning the East Riding club have to look back more than a quarter of a century to March, 1986, for the last time they claimed all three points in Middlesbrough.

Alex Bruce is added to the squad that beat Ipswich on Saturday after recovering from injury, while Nick Proschwitz is pushing for a first start since August after his late cameo from the bench yielded two goals.

The Tigers manager also has a big decision to make as to who starts and in what position tonight with the introduction of Proschwitz, Aaron Mclean and James Chester from the bench playing a big part in the late fightback against the Tractor Boys.

Ahmed Elmohamady, for instance, proved much more effective in attack when playing at right-back in the closing stages with it being two crosses from the Egyptian which led to Proschwitz’s late double.

Bruce added: “Elmohamady has done very, very well. As a manager, you want your signings to work and for them to settle quickly. He has done that. That is also why I was so happy for Nick to score those two goals. It can only help him settle.

“In a funny way, the manner in which we beat Ipswich could help us. We had to persevere and show patience before getting our reward. We never gave up as a team.

“Middlesbrough will be a big test. They will be one of those teams who are there or thereabouts, I am in no doubt about that. They also had a decent result at the weekend (winning 1-0 at Brighton).

“Tony gets his team to try and play the right way. We try and do the same so I believe it should be a decent game.”

On Hull’s attempts to hold on to sixth place tonight, Bruce added: “League positions are nice at this stage but they don’t mean a lot. Not when they change as regularly as they do at the moment.”

Boro will make a late decision on Jonathan Woodgate after the defender played the full 90 minutes at Brighton despite not having trained for three weeks beforehand.

The 32-year-old has been plagued by injury in recent years and manager Tony Mowbray is keen not to ask too much of the former Leeds defender, especially with Bolton Wanderers due at the Riverside this weekend.

Woodgate, however, is keen to play as Boro look to claim the win that would guarantee they jump into the play-off places at the expense of Hull.

He said: “I felt a bit stiff and had cramp (after Saturday’s win at Brighton). But these are two big games and I want to be part of them.”

Last six games: Middlesbrough WWLDWW, Hull City WWLLWW.

Last time: Middlesbrough 1 Hull City 0; December 26, 2011; Championship.

Referee: P Tierney (Lancashire).