Hull City were the last Championship side to stop Norwich City scoring and Nigel Adkins is confident the Tigers can repeat the trick at Carrow Road.

Adkins’ men shipped late goals in a 3-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest on Saturday but the Hull boss will draw inspiration from a 0-0 draw on Humberside back in early November.

“It’s an important game against Norwich tonight and we’ll go there looking to try and win the game,” he said. “We were the last team to keep a clean sheet against Norwich when we played them at home but they’re up the top of the league for a reason.

“We’ve got to be right at the top of our game to give ourselves an opportunity there but it’s a game we should look forward to.

“Norwich is an excellent side. It was good performance from us in a 0-0 game and no side has managed to stop them scoring since.

“They’re a very good passing side, we’ve seen that and if we’re not compact then they’ll give us problems. I watched them on Friday night and I thought it was a very good game.

“Two teams that wanted to pass the ball out from the back, playing with attacking flair and looking to make the pitch very big to create spaces. We have to make sure we put ourselves in a position to win the game by keeping a clean-sheet.

“At the weekend (against Nottingham Forest), for 70 minutes of the game, we were very good in that.”

Hull still harbour hopes of a late play-off push but Adkins wants no repeat of the errors at the City Ground.

“They scored a wonder strike to change the complexion of the game,” he said. “We have to make sure we put ourselves in a position to win the game by keeping a clean-sheet. At the weekend, for 70 minutes of the game, we were very good in that.

“What makes the result even more galling is that other results went our way. We’re five points off the play-off places now.

“When we looked at this week that we’ve got – Nottingham Forest away, Norwich City away and Queens Park Rangers at home – six or seven points would have been a good return.

“Now we have to refocus and get ready for Norwich and then another quick turnaround after that.

“We’ll utilise the group because we need a freshness about ourselves.”