Hull kept alive their faint chances of reaching the Sky Bet Championship play-offs with a 3-0 win over QPR, who remain in deep relegation trouble.

Ozan Tufan’s wonderful solo effort from 20 yards and Fabio Carvalho’s cool one-on-one finish put the Tigers in control at the break.

Jaden Philogene then put the seal on a dominating home performance with a sweet half-volley after 52 minutes.

Hull, who were claiming just an eighth home victory of the season, are six points adrift of sixth-place Norwich – but with a game in hand.

QPR also have work to do, but for far differing reasons as they are now two points clear of the relegation zone.

With just one away league defeat since December 29, it was unsurprising that Marti Cifuentes’ men were quickly into the stride against a Hull side who have this season been hamstrung by their form at the MKM Stadium.

The visitors’ early vigour was, however, soon curtained when Tufan scored after eight minutes.

The Turkey international was firstly given too much space by Jimmy Dunne near the left-hand corner of the penalty area.

Dunne also seemed complacent to the danger when Tufan cut inside before striking fiercely with his right boot.

The ball screwed over the head of Asmir Begovic, battered the underside of the crossbar and landed into the top-right corner of the net.

QPR looked shell-shocked and never recovered.

And they might have gone further behind soon afterwards had Philogene and Carvalho not been guilty of poor decision-making in good areas.

Carvalho, though, impressively made amends after 27 minutes with a lovely second goal.

Tufan again played a key role with a cute first-time pass around the corner that outfoxed centre-backs Steve Cook and Jake Clarke-Salter.

Carvalho controlled beautifully and never looked like missing from the edge of the penalty box once Begovic came rushing too far off his line.

QPR brought on Reggie Cannon and Paul Smyth at the break, and the double substitution nearly yielded immediate dividends when the latter somehow headed wide Illias Chair’s cross from close range.

But Rangers’ slim hopes of getting back into the game sailed into the River Humber when Philogene scored another excellent goal once Tufan’s free-kick was partially headed clear by Sam Field.

The former Aston Villa winger, 10 yards out toward the left of box, showed laudable composure to cushion a textbook half-volley into the right of the goal.

QPR might have added a consolation soon afterwards when Jacob Graves cleared off Hull’s line after Chair waltzed past two defends and goalkeeper Ryan Allsop.

Yet that was as good as it got for Rangers, who will need to improve markedly to avoid a nervous end to the season.

Hull, who nearly scored a fourth when substitute Liam Delap’s 76th-minute lob was headed off the line by Cannon, could also be set for a dramatic finish to the campaign on this evidence.

QPR head coach Gareth Ainsworth admitted defender Jimmy Dunne was naive for his quickfire double booking which turned the game in the 2-0 defeat to West Brom at the Hawthorns.

Dunne was booked for coming back onto the pitch too early then sent off two minutes later for allegedly marking the penalty spot after West Brom were awarded a spot-kick.

Brandon Thomas-Asante crashed home from the spot in the 59th minute before Grady Diangana tapped home the second eight minutes later.

“There was a crazy moment to give the penalty away and then a crazier, more naive moment with the red card,” said Ainsworth.

“I spoke to the referee and he said there was an incident on the penalty spot with the West Brom player.

“I asked him if he was absolutely certain that it was the player he recognised and he said ‘yes, 100 per cent’, so a second yellow was warranted. If it’s true, it’s very naive.

“The first yellow was coming back onto the pitch too early.

“You can accept getting done by football but when you lose a player to that – if it is that – then it’s very naive.”

Rangers have now suffered five straight defeats to remain third from bottom of the Sky Bet Championship.

The pressure is mounting on Ainsworth and they face leaders Leicester at home on Saturday, but he vowed things will improve.

“We’ve got some really good players but I’m sure there’s enough to turn it around,” he insisted.

“We’re going to get out of this and one way or another, I’ll get these boys fighting.

“I know the frustrations of the fans and supporters all over the world make managers targets and sometimes they have to take flak.

“There’s pressure from day one because you get judged on results, but I don’t fear anything.”

West Brom head coach Carlos Corberan admitted patience was the key to breaking down QPR as he prepares to celebrate his first anniversary in charge of the club on Wednesday with a return to the top six.

“It was a question of patience and being mature enough because sometimes when you play against 5-4-1, it’s not easy to attack,” he said. “The key in these type of games is not to concede counter-attacks, and at the same time to create chances.

“But at the same time it’s important to dominate so you can create something.

“Things like passing the ball in front of the player instead of the back because if you play at his back, that can lead to you being off balance and you can give them the advantage.

“One thing which helped us was how we were attacking down the sides – having Diangana and Matt Phillips one against one.

“The key was to stretch their last nine with players such as Nathaniel Chalobah and Jed Wallace making runs in behind, which allowed us to start to stretch them and allowed us to get them one-v-one.”

West Brom climbed back into the Sky Bet Championship’s top six with a 2-0 win against 10-man latecomers QPR at the Hawthorns in a game Jimmy Dunne will want to forget.

Brandon Thomas-Asante netted a 59th-minute penalty before man-of-the-match Grady Diangana scored the second nine minutes later, after he had been tripped by Kenneth Paal for the spot-kick.

The penalty award led to the dismissal of QPR defender Dunne for a second bookable offence for dissent, just two minutes after he was shown a yellow card after being injured.

The result meant West Brom head coach Carlos Corberan could celebrate his one-year anniversary – in stark contrast to opposite number Gareth Ainsworth, who lost for the fifth time in a row.

Until the penalty it looked like West Brom were going to be left doubly frustrated by QPR – first by the Londoners’ late arrival, then by their defence.

The game, which was due to start at 8pm, kicked off 10 minutes late following the delayed arrival of the QPR squad due to traffic following an incident in Birmingham city centre.

Corberan, 40, who will have been in the Baggies hotseat for 12 months on Wednesday, saw his injury-hit side find chances hard to come by until the decisive penalty.

West Brom started the brighter but Thomas-Asante failed to control a beautifully-flighted ball over the top from Diangana which left him through on goal.

Darnell Furlong headed powerfully over the crossbar from eight yards from Erik Pieters’ up-and-under cross.

West Brom looked to find some much-needed inspiration after the break and Okay Yokuslu looped a header over from Matt Phillips’ free-kick.

But they had to be alert at the other end as only a vital block from Cedric Kipre denied Ilias Chair from Reggie Cannon’s cutback.

The breakthrough came when Paal clumsily tripped Diangana as the winger cut in from the right.

Thomas-Asante thumped home the resulting spot-kick into the top corner to end his seven-match drought in style with his fourth goal of the season.

Diangana hit a post with a superb curling effort before tapping home the second goal after Nathaniel Chalobah had beaten Osman Kakay and squared.

The goal – his first since February – came on his 100th league appearance for West Brom since his £20million permanent move from West Ham.

Substitute Jayson Molumby drove just wide in time added on.