Hull City manager Grant McCann has urged his side to build on their late draw against Reading from the weekend and prove they are worthy of three points against Blackburn Rovers tonight.

The Tigers have been left to lick the wounds of losing key attacking duo Kamil Grosicki and Jarrod Bowen on transfer deadline day, being on the receiving end of a 5-1 battering by Brentford before picking up a point in more positive fashion away to Reading on Saturday afternoon.

Mallik Wilks came in on-loan from Barnsley to help lessen the blow of losing both of their main goalscorers in the same day and he opened his account at the Madejski Stadium when he latched onto a Kean Lewis-Potter pass to fire home with eight minutes left to play, snatching a point for Grant McCann’s men.

Up next for the Tigers is a trip to Ewood Park to face Blackburn Rovers, who still harbour ambitions of breaking into the top six this season and have been very impressive in recent months.

Speaking to the club’s official website, McCann backed his team to put in a strong performance to get back to winning ways, ending a run in the league without victory that stretches back to New Year’s Day.

“It’s going to be another tough game for us at Blackburn – like every other away game in the Championship,” he said. “It’s a quick turnaround for us – but we go again.

“Like ourselves, they’ve picked up a few injuries to key players of late and they’ll be looking to bounce back from a defeat to Fulham at the weekend.

“We all know how unpredictable the Championship can be and is but we’re determined to push on between now and the end of the season and finish the campaign strongly.

“We won’t look too far ahead though. We’re just focused on the next challenge – which is Blackburn tonight.

“Yes, our injury situation is not ideal right now but we won’t hide behind that. We’ll focus on the players we have fit and available as we look to produce a performance worthy of coming away from Ewood Park with all three points.”

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The verdict

McCann is right that he has been unfortunate with injuries this season but there is no need to place too much emphasis on it as Blackburn are going through a very similar run of bad luck with Bradley Dack and Lewis Holtby out.

He is under no illusions that it will be a tough game against Tony Mowbray’s side, who have a lot of quality in their lineup even without those two.

The point at Reading was a step in the right direction and there will be some cautious optimism that the Tigers can get another positive result away from home.

Mallik Wilks’ start to life at the KCOM Stadium has helped and he will be another looking to build on their form from the last outing.