David Prutton expects narrow victory in Sheffield Wednesday v Hull City clash | OneFootball

In what is a full Championship fixture list to begin 2024, the final encounter of 12 games sees Sheffield Wednesday take on Hull City in a Yorkshire Derby at Hillsborough.

Both sides had been in respective runs of inconsistent form in the final weeks of 2023, but Danny Rohl and Liam Rosenior will come into this game full of confidence as their sides picked up maximum points against Lancashire opposition in the form of Preston North End and Blackburn Rovers.

In what is the final of two televised games in the second tier on New Year's Day, Sky Sports pundit David Prutton - the Hull-born former Wednesday midfielder - is anticipating a closely fought contest in S6 to close out the afternoon's proceedings.

Prutton wrote in his Sky Sports column: "That was a big win for Sheffield Wednesday at Preston. It keeps them within slim distance of safety, and that is something for Danny Rohl to work with."

"Hull have loftier ambitions, and begin 2024 in the play-off places after that dramatic win against Blackburn. They will hope to kick on and have a shot at Wembley and promotion, although there is a long way to go. All they can do is take it one step at a time, starting with victory on New Year’s Day. Prediction: 1-2."

Hull City's "lofty ambitions"

As Prutton highlighted, 2024 presents Hull and Rosenior with a great opportunity to continue their march towards maintaining a play-off berth, which hasn't been achieved at this level since 2016, when they ironically defeated Monday's opponents in the final at Wembley Stadium.

In what was a hard-fought victory against Jon Dahl Tomasson's Blackburn outfit on Friday night, Rosenior was full of praise and caution towards his side's performances, which at times has been a common occurrence, with the 39-year-old maintaining his belief that the Tigers should've accumulated more than the 39 points they have to show for their efforts at present.

"The first half kind of sums up our season, to be honest – we're in control and we shoot ourselves in the foot, a cheap giveaway, one ball in transition and we know Szmodics can do what he did, it was a fantastic finish," he said via the Yorkshire Post.

"But then I was really pleased because we came in at half-time and there were a lot of frustrated player in there having been 2-0 up and I just had to regather the players and say to them the reality of the situation was it was 2-2 and we'd had so many good chances in transition, we just needed to be really organised and keep a clean sheet in the second half and we'd win the game."

Sheffield Wednesday must continue resurgence

Just two months ago, many supporters and outsiders would have resigned Wednesday to relegation. However, since his arrival, Danny Rohl has given Wednesdayites cause for optimism that the most miraculous of escapes can be achieved, given their position back in October.

After suffering consecutive defeats to Cardiff City and Coventry City, the Owls returned to winning ways with a narrow 1-0 success at Deepdale, with Marvin Johnson - who was alienated under previous boss Xisco Munoz - scoring the only goal of the game after 27 minutes.

Whilst this game didn't display Wednesday at their best, finding a way to win under such circumstances - which included a red card for George Byers on 85 minutes - is what impressed the German the most, as he also told the Yorkshire Evening Post.

“Our defending in and around our box was brilliant. We’ve put in a great performance and done really well to get a big three points.

“The performance was not the best at times, mainly due to some poor positioning I suppose, but the players really fought all night and that was fantastic to see."

Narrow outcome expected in the Steel City

Unsurprisingly, the two sides will be buoyed as we head into a crucial affair in the Steel City, which makes Prutton's view of a narrow Hull victory understandable.

However, the Tigers did come unstuck at QPR three weeks ago, who also find themselves in the relegation zone, and must be wary of threats such as Anthony Musaba, who has found a purple patch in blue and white in recent weeks.

Flipping the coin the other way though, Hull have plenty of threats to deploy themselves, including Ozan Tufan, who scored an impressive hat-trick in the reverse fixture on August 12th.

Either way, expect a ferocious atmosphere from both sets of supporters on Monday evening as this encounter plays out.