Dean Marney says a mixture of ability and hard work is the reason for Hull City's impressive opening to life in the Barclays Premier League.

With eight games played, the Tigers sit in third place in the table with their most recent success coming with a 1-0 win against West Ham United on Sunday.

That was the fifth win of the campaign for Phil Brown's side, the third in succession, and Marney is in no doubt as to the most important contributory factors.

"Firstly I would put it (our start) down to a lot of hard work," said Marney.

"We've got a great set of lads that are 100 per cent together. But we've got a lot of ability as well and you can't just put everything down to work rate.

"The combination of the two is working well at the moment.

"We've got a very happy dressing room. The first half on Sunday was tough and West Ham played particularly well. They caused us a few problems.

"But the gaffer changed one or two things at half time and once we started passing the ball around, we caused them one or two problems.

"It's been a really good start, but we always knew the quality we had in the squad. Winning on the opening day settled everybody down and also proved that we can compete (at this level).

"The last three results have been nothing short of sensational."