Bristolian Alfie Jones believes the prospect of climbing above Nigel Pearson's Robins in the table is all the motivation Hull City need to pick up three points at Ashton Gate on Saturday.
Similar to Bristol City, the Tigers head into the match on a run of form under new manager Shota Arveladze having won three of their last four matches - including an impressive away victory at Middlesbrough.
Jones, 24, was born in the West Country and grew up in Long Ashton, attending Backwell School, but was picked up by the Southampton academy as a youngster. He had loans at St Mirren and Gillingham before signing for Hull in 2020.
The two sides head into the match with little but pride to play for, with Bristol City two points above their opponents in 17th having gone four matches undefeated. Although Jones admits there is still plenty of motivation to pull off an away victory and prevent Pearson's side from picking up their last opportunity to win back-to-back matches this season.
He told Hull Live: "We want to finish the season strongly. We’ve got Bristol City on Saturday. We want to finish above them in the table, so it’s a massive game for us. We're going to prepare for it this week and go there to get the three points on the road."
Hull have perhaps exceeded expectations this season on their return to the Championship. After hitting the 50-point mark, Jones said his side have proven people wrong.
"It's a massive achievement," he added: "We've got a young squad. A lot of people doubted us at the start of the season to get to safety, but we want to push on now.
"We've got a young and hungry squad, we've had ups and downs in the season but we've stayed together throughout and now we want to finish strongly."
The last fixture between these two sides at Ashton Gate was one of the most memorable results in recent history. The two sides shared the spoils in a 10-goal thriller in 2018 with City surrendering a 4-2 lead to lose ground in the play-off race.
Manager Pearson spent 17 months as Hull manager 12-years ago following their relegation from the Premier League. During his time there, he broke a 66-year club record having gone 14 consecutive away matches without defeat.
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