Hull City's Michael Dawson spurred on by relegation

Michael Dawson has admitted that Hull City will be using the agony of last season's relegation as motivation for a promotion push this year.

The Tigers were relegated from the Premier League in May, only 12 months after reaching the FA Cup final, despite manager Steve Bruce spending big to bring in new faces.

"Relegation was a real dampener on everything," he told The Yorkshire Post.

"People ask how long it will take to get over what happened last season, but I am not sure you ever get over having a relegation on your CV.

"I know from experience that we have to use the hard times of last year to make sure we don't have a repeat of feeling like that. We have to look for promotion."

The 31-year-old made 28 appearances last season, scoring one goal.