Denis Smith: Diamond geezers will pose big test

HANDS up those in the wider world who would have looked at Stoke v Hull at the start of the season and casually assumed it would be a bottom-three fixture.

Both clubs deserve enormous credit for gathering as many points as they have to give themselves one hell of a chance of surviving – and prove they are not the cannon fodder so many predicted they would be.

I can't tell you how proud this Stokie has been when travelling around the country.

I was in Bristol the other day and you can imagine how interested they were to know how we are doing it after going so close to promotion themselves.

Tomorrow's game is another clash of opposites – but this time Stoke's great home record against Hull's marvellous away form.

It's going to be interesting to see if Stoke can continue to plough through Hull like they have so many others at home, or whether Hull can show the same resilience in absorbing any bombardment and then striking quickly on the break. They suck you in and then, bang, hit you at speed from the back.

I was at West Brom a while back when Albion must have had 75 per cent of the possession, but Hull walked away with a 3-0 win.

Hull play a midfield diamond, with Geovanni drifting everywhere, but I am hoping they won't get as much space as they normally might because Stoke tend to play with two sitting midfielders.

That does leave them without any natural width, unless the full-backs can get forward, and it gives Stoke's full-backs the space to push on and cause problems. So there could be a lot of emphasis on Andy Griffin and Danny Higginbotham.

Hull will also play with two strikers in Daniel Cousin and Marlon King – and deserve great credit for that as few teams deploy two up front these days, especially away.

King always wants to get in behind and make his runs, while Cousin has looked a decent player, particularly in the air. Both have shown they can finish.

Stoke will need some pace at the back to cater for them and my vote would go to Leon Cort as things stand with Ryan Shawcross and his back injury.

Cort has a fair degree of pace and players tend to respond to the challenge of playing against an old club, so that could tip things in his favour.

I haven't seen enough of Ibrahima Sonko to form a full judgement, but with so little football under his belt this season there is obviously the chance of some rustiness setting in there.

I'm delighted to see Ricardo Fuller back and, with or without an injury to Dave Kitson, he'd be straight back in for me.

Hull will know their great start can't last and they are probably destined to finish below midway, but they remain a great threat and Stoke will need their best game on show to win this one.