Ipswich Town defender Jacob Greaves ‘really pleased’ former club Hull City avoided Championship relegation

Hull City will be one of Ipswich Town’s opponents in the Championship next season following their final day survival, and Blues defender Jacob Greaves was delighted for his boyhood club.

The Tigers’ 1-1 draw at Portsmouth the previous weekend ensured that they overcame Luton Town on goal difference to retain their Championship status in their first campaign since Greaves’ departure for Suffolk last summer.

The Cottingham-born centre-back, who came through the east Yorkshire side’s academy, could not hide his delight at Hull’s survival but has not started to think about facing them in the second tier next season.

“Really pleased, it’s good for the city,” he said ahead of Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to Brentford. “I was watching as much as I could before the Everton game and then when it was time to get into focus I turned it off and focused on what I had at hand.

“It’s a season for them that’s a little bit disappointing with the squad that they’ve got. It’s definitely one that’s good enough to be competing in that league, the play-offs are probably not as strong as they were last season.

“I’m absolutely delighted they stayed up, next season as well playing against them will be nice too rather than being Championship and League One.

“I've not really thought about it that much. With the remainder of the Premier League games, I’m focused on them. I’ll think about it when it actually comes to it but it’s just another game, I suppose.

“I’ve got nothing but love for that club. I love the place, you ask the boys here and I always big up Hull so much, they say it’s not a great place to live and I’m the one backing the city up.

“Hopefully I get a nice reception, if I don’t then fair enough but I’m excited to go back.”

Greaves, like many of his team-mates, is coming to the end of his debut season in the Premier League. While it is ultimately ending in relegation, the defender says it has been an enjoyable experience.

“It’s been a different season than I’ve been used to with the step-up to the Premier League, at times you’re tested,” he said. “In some games I feel like I’ve done well, some other games I feel I’ve got improvements to make.

“The step-up was always going to test that, but now I feel like I’m more accomplished and feel better for the step-up.

“Sometimes you’ve got to take a step back and look where you’re coming from. Your dream is to play in these leagues and to do it this year has been fantastic, but I’m hungry for more and you want to play in this league all the time.

“Definitely next season the ambition will be to get these boys back up into the Premier League and have another crack at it where you’re a bit more experienced and have a bit more knowhow in how to compete and perform in this league.”

Asked whether it has been as hard as he anticipated, Greaves said: “About what I thought. It’s been tough at times, we’ve had good games where we’ve competed well and then some games against different teams we’ve found it tough, which is to be expected.

“You’re going to have tough games, every team in this league has tough games. It’s definitely not been tougher than I expected, but we’ve not won that many games so you could also say we’ve not found it too easy.”

The 24-year-old added: “It's about all round concentration, I don’t think you’ve got time to switch off in moments where you’re a little dosage off where you’re supposed to be. If you’re out of position, wrong body position or anything like that, you get punished with the technical ability of these players is second to none.

“You’ve got to make sure you’re doing everything week in, week out to be dialled in to make sure you give yourself the best chance to perform at the weekend.”

Town will head into the Championship next season with a completely different level of expectation from their promotion campaign last term where they were newly promoted from League One.

As a result, Greaves suggested the Blues may have a target on their backs in which other sides will look to up their game when facing a side who have just come down from the top flight.

He said: “When I was at Hull last season and we were going away to the teams that had been relegated from the Premier League, we saw it as a proper test and probably give that little bit more to show that you can compete against the Premier League sides and everyone showing that they can do a job against them.

“I think they’ll be a bit more grit from the managers to show that their team is going to be able to match a team that’s just come down from the Premier League. We know that we’ll just have to stick to a task and try and accomplish it.”