Hull City head coach Ruben Selles says he's under no illusions about the size of the task facing him at the MKM Stadium after suffering the first defeat of his reign.

After battling to earn a creditable 1-1 draw against Watford on Wednesday night, just two days after taking his first training session, Selles was left frustrated with a below-par performance at Coventry City on Saturday, losing 2-1 in the Midlands, despite taking the lead for the second successive game.

City, in truth, were well beaten in the end given the manner of the scoreline could have been more emphatic but for a brilliant penalty save from goalkeeper Ivor Pandur. It leaves them two points adrift at the bottom of the Championship with 25 games to go.

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The Tigers have won just three of their 21 games. They have kept one clean sheet this season and haven't tasted victory since October 1, a run which now stretches to 13 games.

Going into the crucial festive period, the Tigers know they must start finding a way to get back on the winning trail, and quickly, starting with Saturday's crucial home meeting with Swansea City, their final home outing of the calendar year.

If there is a positive to be gleaned from the last two games, City did take the lead in both. Although they couldn't keep either of them for longer than 10 minutes, it does give Selles something to work with.

"No, don't make a mistake," Selles said when asked if the job was bigger than he initially thought. "When we came in, the team was rock bottom. It was not going to be easy (at Hull City). It was not easy in Southampton, it was not easy in Reading, and it's not easy now, so we know exactly what kind of job we have.

"I think we know exactly how to go out of it, but it's not easy. It's not going to be like straight there. Potentially if we keep the lead in the last game in the 1-0, we were talking about a 50/50 situation we didn't win. That's OK, but we need to work really hard and fight really hard for those margins for that one per cent that give us those situations. I thought the job is not going to be easy, but I think it can be done."

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