TOM Cairney believes he has returned from injury to join the finest Hull City side he has seen assembled at the KC Stadium.
The gifted 21-year-old made his comeback from three months out with knee ligament damage when emerging off the bench in the 2-0 win over Huddersfield, courtesy of goals from Robert Koren and David Meyler.
City's third consecutive victory was soured by a red card to Alex Bruce after the final whistle for clashing with Alan Lee, but a 13th win of the season closed the gap on the top two places to just a point.
The halfway mark of the season will come at Derby on Friday and Cairney has no doubt the collective talents of Steve Bruce's side eclipses all he has witnessed before during four seasons in the first-team.
"I definitely think that this team has got the most ability I've ever played in," said Cairney, who made his City debut during the 2009-10 Premier League season.
"Collectively, we play as a team. We had players like Geovanni who could come up with individual quality in the Premier League but as a team the way we move the ball is excellent. We're all singing off the same hymn sheet.
"The biggest thing is that there's a belief in the dressing room that wasn't there last season and the season before.
"We feel like we can go out, win games and score goals. We can still keep the clean-sheets as well but we feel as though we're more of a threat going forward.
"With the squad we've got we've definitely got a good chance of doing something this year."
A 2-0 win over Huddersfield was a fitting tribute ahead of the KC Stadium's 10th birthday celebrations tomorrow and continued a perfect run through December.
Wins over Nottingham Forest, Watford and the Terriers has closed the gap between City and the automatic promotion places to a point, meaning Bruce's side will head to Derby with the incentive of going second in the Championship.
"I don't see why we shouldn't be aiming for top two with the squad and strength in depth we've got," said Cairney.
"It's hard enough getting in a squad, never mind in the starting line-up. That shows how much competition for places we've got. That's a brilliant thing.
"The boys have been brilliant this year. I watched the Millwall game at home (a 4-1 win in September) when I'd just been injured and the football was brilliant to watch. That inspired me to get fit as quickly as I could."
Cairney's 64th-minute introduction against Huddersfield was his first taste of action since suffering a knee injury in the League Cup defeat to Doncaster in August.
The timing could be perfect if Sunderland choose to recall David Meyler this week but Cairney says it will be a squad effort regardless.
"It would be a shame because David is a good lad and he's done well for us," he added.
"But that's where this squad comes into play. We've got a busy Christmas period coming up and it will rotate a little bit. We've got it in us to keep this run going."
