Hull City boss Phil Brown has thrown down the gauntlet to his players ahead of their clash with Stoke City.

New chairman Adam Pearson has told Brown results have to improve. The Tigers will slump to the bottom of the Premier League if Portsmouth get a point at Blackburn this afternoon.

And, Brown, 50, knows he will be sacked if his side suffer a crushing defeat tomorrow.

He said: "It is not my strengths that are in question on Sunday. When we select a team and select a formation and tactics ]hopefully that comes to the fore and it is me out of the way.

"Then it is up to the players to grab the mantle and carry out your message. You are looking at the temperament of the players in the kind of situation we're in. It is a situation where there is a lot of pressure being cranked up by other people but I think the players are responding in the right way.

"It is never easy in the situation we are in. You look at three years ago, when we were threatened with relegation into League One, and you have to try and find ways of taking pressure away on the training ground.

"It is difficult when the spotlight is so intense but, ultimately, we know we need to win sufficient games to stay in the Premier League.

"If you go back three years we had to win sufficient games to stay in the Championship and we did. Last season we needed to win sufficient games to stay in the Premier League and we did.

"Now we have got to win sufficient games again - and we WILL."