Jon Rowe and Christian Fassnacht lifted Norwich to their first win of 2024 as Hull missed a chance to move into the Sky Bet Championship play-offs.
Rowe took his tally for the season to a dozen in all competitions and underlined why several Premier League clubs are rumoured to be sniffing around him with a breathtaking individual first-half goal.
Fassnacht came off the bench to net in the 88th minute and while Tyler Morton pulled one back in added-on time, Norwich held on for the final few moments to record a 2-1 win – their first in five matches.
The Canaries now sit just one point and place behind seventh-placed Hull, who only really sprang into action in the final half hour at the MKM Stadium.
They started brightly but were met with robust resistance from Norwich, with two bruising challenges on Aaron Connolly leading to Billy Sharp being brought on within a quarter of an hour.
Borja Sainz should have done better with the first clear cut chance as he lifted over with only Hull goalkeeper Ryan Allsop to beat while Scott Twine was similarly wayward at the other end.
A moment of magic was needed to enliven a drab affair and Rowe, who has been linked with West Ham and Aston Villa in the January transfer window, provided it in the 36th minute.
After nudging Tyler Morton off the ball, Rowe jinked forwards, ghosted past a couple of opposition defenders and though space was running out and he was off-balance, the winger sent a shot with the outside of his right boot arcing past Allsop.
Norwich were perhaps fortunate to still have their full complement by then as a couple of minutes earlier, Giannoulis was only yellow carded for an apparent swing of the arm at Coyle.
Hull’s sense of injustice rose after half-time as Ozan Tufan and Twine were booked for simulation within moments of each other although the former grazed the post from just outside the area.
A sustained spell of Hull pressure followed but it still took until the 65th minute for them to test Angus Gunn, who did brilliantly to parry away Sharp’s snapshot inside the area.
Sharp’s effort from 20 yards seemed destined for the top corner but was pushed away by Gunn, which seemed decisive when Fassnacht, who replaced Rowe in the 81st minute, reacted quickest at the back post to convert with his thigh from Onel Hernandez’s teasing cross.
Morton set up a grandstand finish in the first minute of injury-time by rifling home from 25 yards as Gunn was finally beaten, but Norwich clung on.
Ancelotti lauds Real Madrid goalscorer Vinicius after first-leg double
Carlo Ancelotti believes Vinicius Junior is constantly developing his attacking output, after the Real Madrid forward delivered again in the Champions League.
Vinicius scored twice as Madrid drew 2-2 with Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final tie on Tuesday.
Those strikes took Vinicius to 31 goal involvements (16 goals, 15 assists) in the Champions League since the start of the 2021-22 campaign, which is more than any other player in the competition in the same time period.
Vinicius' opener came when he cut inside and latched onto an exceptional pass from Toni Kroos, and Ancelotti pointed out how the Brazil international is beginning to change how he attacks.
Speaking to TNT Sports, Ancelotti said: "Vinicius is starting to understand how important it is for him to move inside the pitch and not only close to the line.
"He's learned really well how to move. It was a fantastic pass from Kroos but a fantastic run from Vinicius."
Reflecting on his team's performance, Ancelotti said: "It was an interesting game, an open game of course – as it has to be for a semi-final. I think we could play better, I don’t think we played our best and we had problems in the first half.
"We started to put pressure on in the second half to level the game – it was much better.
"We are comfortable with a low block but we didn’t play with intensity. With a low block you have to have intensity, you have to win duels, second balls. We were too low. We tried to change something.
"The game was difficult at 2-1 down, but then we had the energy and character to equalise – the second part of the second half was really good."
Coventry City 1-2 Ipswich Town: Burgess puts Tractor Boys on brink of promotion
Ipswich Town took a huge step to Premier League promotion after Cameron Burgess snatched a second-half winner in Tuesday's 2-1 victory over Coventry City.
Kieran McKenna's side require just one point from their final Championship game against League One-bound Huddersfield Town to go up, after a decisive victory at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Kieffer Moore blasted in an eighth-minute opener for the visitors after Wes Burns' crafty cutback pass, easing the pressure on Ipswich and dampening the top-two hopes of third-placed Leeds United.
Haji Wright levelled in the second half, only for Burgess to squeeze a winning goal past Bradley Collins five minutes later, putting Ipswich on the brink of top-flight football for the first time since their relegation in 2002.
A draw against Huddersfield, who are 23rd and three points adrift of safety, would secure promotion at Portman Road, marking just the fourth instance of back-to-back promotions in the Premier League era.
Having managed to climb out of League One, McKenna's entertaining side would join Watford, rivals Norwich City and Southampton as the only sides to achieve the feat.
Data Debrief: Ipswich end winless run at perfect time
Prior to this game, only five teams had won fewer points in the Championship than Ipswich's six since the beginning of April (W1 D3 L1).
Yet McKenna's men refused to let their top-flight push derail as the Tractor Boys ended a four-game winless run to move within touching distance of history.
Al Ittihad 1-2 Al Hilal: Holders into King's Cup final
Al Hilal overcame Sergej Milinkovic-Savic's red card as Saud Abdulhamid's late goal sealed a 2-1 victory over Al Ittihad in the King's Cup semi-finals.
Without Karim Benzema, Al Ittihad ultimately lacked the firepower to make their numerical advantage count in Tuesday's clash.
Former Lazio midfielder, who joined Al Hilal as part of their spending spree last year, received a straight red card in the 42nd minute.
Al Ittihad's Abderrazzaq Hamed-Allah cancelled out Micheal's opener, but Abdulhamid popped up with the winner in the 81st minute.
Al Hilal are 10-time King's Cup winners, having won their 10th title last season.
The Saudi Pro League leaders, who are still without the injured Neymar, will now face either Al Khaleej or Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr in the final at the end of May.
Data Debrief: Malcom in the middle
Al Hilal might be missing their star Brazilian Neymar, but his compatriot Malcom is delivering when it comes to playmaking.
The former Zenit attacker set up both of Al Hilal's goals, creating three chances in total and registering a pass accuracy of 92.6 per cent, better than any of his team-mates.
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