Hull City temporary Football Management Consultant Iain Dowie is relishing the prospect of taking his side to the Britannia Stadium, but is fully aware of the task that awaits them.

Dowie guided the Tigers to his first victory since taking charge, as goals from Jimmy Bullard and Craig Fagan saw off Fulham at the KC Stadium last weekend and the Northern Irishman believes that the result has given his players a much-needed confidence boost.

"It's been a very bright week in training," said Dowie. "It's been an enjoyable week and the players have been really responsive and hopefully that will be evident at Stoke."

But the former West Ham United manager praised their forthcoming opponents and expressed his admiration for how effective the Potters are at set-pieces.

"Since Tuesday we've been preparing for Stoke and what is going to be a very tough task. They are a good side and are very strong at set-pieces. Tony Pulis must be fed up of people saying that, but they're good at them because they work very hard at them."

In Dowie's first game in temporary charge, Hull looked set to record their first away league win of the season when they led 2-1 at bottom club Portsmouth, but two late goals condemned them to a dramatic defeat.

Dowie though, believes that this has made his squad even more determined to reverse their current away form and beat the drop.

"We have a fresh outlook. We were minutes away from a win at Portsmouth where the minimum we deserved was a point. We didn't get that, but the game has really fired us up and given us more belief. It has also heightened our intention to grind out results, like we did against Fulham."