David Stockdale: Hull City promotion push makes for exciting time

DAVID Stockdale says the opportunity to play a leading role in Hull City's promotion bid for the remainder of the season made his return to the KC Stadium irresistible.

After seeing an initial loan spell cut short by parent club Fulham in December, Stockdale rejoined the Tigers last week in time to reclaim the goalkeeper's gloves for the 1-1 draw at Peterborough on Saturday.

A Grant McCann penalty 11 minutes from time denied the 27-year-old a winning return and saw City miss the chance to reclaim an automatic promotion place in the Championship.

Only goal difference splits Steve Bruce's men from second-placed Leicester and Stockdale admits he could not turn down the call to return.

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"I really wanted to be a part of this until the end of the season because it's such an exciting time," Stockdale told the Mail.

"I highlighted the fact I'd like to come back here once everything was sorted. The manager (Martin Jol) asked me if there was anywhere in particular I wanted to go and I made it clear I wanted to go back to Hull.

"There's a fantastic group of lads here. The attitude of the manager and the owners, getting Robbie Brady and David Meyler in, tells you where they want to be and the team also plays great football.

"Why wouldn't you want to be a part of that?"

Having seen Eldin Jakupovic toil in a 3-1 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday, Bruce firmed up his long-standing interest in Stockdale last week.

It is hoped the City boss has now found a goalkeeping mainstay for his promotion assault – and even beyond.

Asked if there was the opportunity to move to the KC Stadium on a permanent deal, Stockdale said: "There's nothing set in stone.

"If there's an opportunity then you have to look at it. I'm not going to rule anything out."

Although a 50th point of the season at Peterborough on Saturday means City have now been beaten just once in 12 league and cup games in a run dating back to November, two points from a possible nine in 2013 have enabled Leicester to leapfrog the Tigers into second spot.

This weekend's FA Cup date with Barnsley provides the chance to regroup ahead of a testing double-header at Millwall and Brighton, and Stockdale has every faith in his level-headed team-mates.

"Nothing gets said about promotion but people know in their heads what we're going for," said Stockdale, who will be ineligible for Saturday's FA Cup fourth round tie having already played for Fulham.

"It's the unspoken thing. We're in with a great chance and it's the aim of the club but there's a long season and no-one is getting carried away.

"We need to get back to how we know we can play. We came away from Peterborough with a point and we're still joint second.

"We gave away silly balls and at the end it felt like we had 10 men. We just never got out of our own half and that's basically not good enough.

"At half-time we got a word in our ear, which we deserved, and we were told to get the ball down and play like we can do. We never did that unfortunately and tried to go long too often."