Hull City's tumultuous season took another twist on Saturday in a comfortable win against Fulham. Credit to City boss Iain Dowie for lifting the players' spirit after last week’s late debacle at Portsmouth, but the survival champagne corks shouldn't be popped just yet. It's important to put the 2-0 win in some sort of context.

Fulham were woeful, and played exactly what they were; a club with a small squad who have played lots of games in recent weeks. With a Europa League quarter-final on the horizon, it's understandable that Cottagers boss Roy Hodgson rested several of the team that lost to Tottenham on Wednesday.

If last week’s last-gasp defeat to Arsenal was demoralising, then Saturday’s defeat at Portsmouth was simply heart-wrenchingly unbearable. 2-1 up with five minutes to go, Hull City’s porous defence coughed up two goals in three minutes, witlessly failing to take even a point from the league’s bottom team.

To lose in such a way to on paper the worst team in the league was just monumentally hard to take. Caleb Folan’s second goal of the game looked to have wrapped up the points for City, but a late free kick from O’Hara and even later finish from Kanu after some shocking defending game Pompey the points.

Another crazy few days in the world of Hull City passes. Friday saw a spate of rumours about on the future of Phil Brown, and the odds on him being the next Premier League manager we drastically shortened.

Then came a terrific performance against one of the best clubs in Europe, with the players certainly playing for the manager, before Brown was put on gardening leave on Monday morning. Wednesday saw the appointment of Iain Dowie, an appointment that has already been derided by much of the City support.

What a whirlwind of emotions. First, sadness for Brownie, whose achievements as manager will never be forgotten. Many claim he’s our greatest ever manager, and while I wouldn’t go that far, I’ll always be thankful for the fantastic times Brown brought to the KC, three fabulous seasons and that day at Wembley.

Few things in football hurt more than your team conceding a late winner. But it really hurts when your team in question, Hull City, have played for the whole second half with only ten men, holding one of the best teams in Europe in the process. What a huge sickener Nicklas Bendtner’s injury-time goal was.

City battled and scrapped away well after an annoyingly docile opening 20 minutes, and were well worthy of a point in my book. It was terrific to see a 10-man Hull City side deny 11 Arsenal players for so long, but begs the question; why can’t we produce this level of performance against the poorer teams? (away from home in particular).

Hull City’s away form is really becoming a concern. In Sunday’s game at Everton, the Tigers started quite well, before capitulating worryingly in a second-half performance that had all the hallmarks of a relegation-bound team. There was no quality, urgency, or most worryingly of all for me, fight on display, as Everton overwhelmed City’s midfield and scored three goals in the second period.

Goodison Park is never an easy place to go, and few were predicting City could get anything from this encounter. But we expect a better shift being put in from the starting XI than was on show yesterday, particularly after the horror show at Upton Park.

That fantastic victory over Man City seems a long time ago. Remember it? City out-hassled and over-whelmed players of far superior ability, and proudly clung on for a 2-1 win. Saturday’s debacle at West Ham was the exact opposite. There are few more annoying things for a football fan to witness than to see their team being outworked, for the opposition to simply wan the result more than them. But that’s what happened. It really was a despicable showing.

The omens didn’t look good for a start. Andy Dawson is not the sort of player who wears white boots. He’s an old fashioned left back who does the simples things well, and he forgot that yesterday, giving the ball away ridiculously in midfield which led to the West Ham opener. His performance summed up the rest of the team; lethargic and flat-footed, with a refusal to take responsibility. City went behind after three minutes and never looked like coming back into the game, with only Mouyokolo, Boateng and Myhill offering any proper resistance.

Last Wednesday saw a very disappointing result for Hull City, slipping to a one nil defeat away to Blackburn. Though the ridiculous sending off of George Boateng did City few favours, the Tigers did little to help themselves either, and failed to produce the type of high-octane display they have gleefully provided in recent weeks. At least Lee Probert saw fit to rescind the red card and Boateng is free to play in a monstrously big game against West Ham at the weekend.

But let’s not dwell on that result. Blackburn look pretty much safe now, while Phil Brown’s side most certainly do not. With 12 games to go, the Tigers sit on 24 points, just one clear of the drop zone, but only two shy of 13th position. Anyone from that 13th spot downwards is well in this relegation battle in my eyes, so this week I thought I’d have a run down the relegation candidates and see where the crumbling land of Premier League survival lies...

After my calls for consistency Hull City finally delivered, producing a brilliant battling performance against Manchester City to win their first game in 11. That stat is misleading really, as the players have steadily improved since Christmas, nicking draws against Spurs and Chelsea, and culminating in a terrific 2-1 win against the world’s richest club.

This was another excellent team performance, with the Tigers simply wanting the result more than the visitors’ mercenaries. Altidore and Vennegoor worried the dodgy looking back four from the first minute, Boateng and Cairney both continued their excellent form, and the back four put in another terrific effort, with the full-backs this time matching the centre-halves’ performance.

What a night Tuesday was to be a Hull City fan. The team really did us proud against league leaders Chelsea, harrying and hassling the Blues for 90 minutes and coming away with a valuable and richly deserved 1-1 draw.

City showed Character, Courage and Commitment against Chelsea, but now they must show a fourth ‘C’ against Manchester City that has been sadly lacking so far this season – consistency.

Well, what a shambles that was. A huge, if not must-win game, and City come up short thanks to some horrible defensive frailties, allowing Wolves to come from behind twice to take a point in a game that City should have won handily.

So what went wrong? The unlikely combination of Altidore and Big Jan caused Wolves problems, and we looked to genuinely carry a goal threat for much of the game, so why did we look so nervy at the back?