Liam Rosenior described Hull’s performance in their 2-1 victory over Southampton as the culmination of his work as Tigers boss.

Anass Zaroury bagged his first goal for the club since arriving on loan from Burnley before Liverpool loanee Fabio Carvalho put the visitors in control for their fourth straight away win – and first at Southampton since 1951.

Rosenior, whose side made it three wins in a row for the first time since he took over in November 2022 and moved into the play-off places, said: “We’ve come away to an outstanding team, with outstanding players and an outstanding manager, and we had to be brave.

“That first-half performance is exactly what I’ve been working so hard to bring to the club. I have bored all the supporters talking about the process but seeing that first-half performance was top.

“I am so proud of the lads but I don’t want to get carried away. I just see it as the next step for this team.

“From the outside it is a big step but inside I don’t take any notice of runs or what we can and can’t achieve.

“This is a young team that will make mistakes, and we’ll make more mistakes along the way, but when it comes off it is a delight to watch.”

The Tigers struck in the 11th minute when a long ball from goalkeeper Ryan Allsop caught Saints off-guard. Ryan Giles carried before the ball found its way to Jaden Philogene, and Gavin Bazunu parried the winger’s powerful shot into the path of Zaroury to tap in his first goal in five days short of a year.

Philogene then nabbed the ball off Joe Rothwell on the edge of the Saints box before releasing Carvalho for his second goal since arriving from Anfield.

Joe Aribo grabbed an 88th-minute consolation for Saints but their manager Russell Martin was left furious at the first-half horror show.

Saints ended an 11-game winning run at St Mary’s to drop to fourth and Martin said: “First half was rubbish, the second half was very good but that doesn’t matter very much when you’re 2-0 down.

“No one cares if you play well in the second half when you aren’t good in the first half and are behind.

“Hull were good, we knew that from the first game (a last-minute 2-1 win for Saints in October). We had a good chance with Rothwell before they can get into the game, we don’t take it, and somehow that doesn’t spur us on to go more aggressive.

“Their goal is something we worked on in training yesterday as we’ve seen them do it a lot, so to allow that to happen is a nonsense.

“Last week’s defeat (their first after 25 games unbeaten, against Bristol City) was down to a lack of aggression, this week it was a lack of courage. The two things you need is courage and aggression.”

Anass Zaroury bagged his first goal for Hull as the Tigers stunned Southampton 2-1 for a fourth straight away win in the Sky Bet Championship.

Burnley loanee Zaroury tapped in before Fabio Carvalho, borrowed from Liverpool, thrashed in Hull’s second to lift them into the play-off places.

Joe Aribo pulled one back for Saints but it was their first home defeat in 12 matches, with their automatic promotion push derailed by back-to-back Tuesday defeats as they slipped down to fourth in the table.

Southampton’s first half peaked in the eighth minute when Joe Rothwell was denied by Ryan Allsop when through one-on-one.

From then on Hull tore the hosts apart with attacking flair, although Saints also brought about their own downfall with some loose passing in midfield and defence.

The Tigers broke the deadlock in the 11th minute when a long ball from Allsop caught Saints off guard. Ryan Giles carried before the ball found its way to Jaden Philogene. The winger’s powerful shot was parried by Gavin Bazunu into the path of Zaroury, who tapped in his first goal in five days short of a year.

Philogene had an effort battered away at the near post and Abdulkadir Omur stabbed wide after Carvalho had scampered down the left as the visitors looked to double their advantage.

Southampton did not learn from Bazunu’s poor pass to Rothwell which allowed Jean Michael Seri to shoot, as 35 seconds later they were two down after Rothwell had stumbled on the ball on the edge of his own area. Philogene plucked the ball off him before allowing Carvalho to sweetly score past Bazunu.

Having not shipped two goals in a match since October, Saints had conceded a double in three of their last four games.

The Tigers tore the disorientated hosts apart in the last 10 minutes of the half. Zaroury lobbed Bazunu but the ball bounced wide, and then the Moroccan swung a shot just wide.

A clearly irate Russell Martin swung the axe on Rothwell, Sekou Mara and Adam Armstrong at half-time – which had been greeted by boos from the home support.

The fresh legs of David Brooks, Che Adams and Joe Aribo saw a slight uptick in performance as Will Smallbone sliced wide following a good move before Ryan Manning aimed for the bottom corner but missed.

Brooks lifted an effort onto the roof of the net but they had to wait until the 88th minute to have a goalscoring chance in the second half. Aribo took it, the Nigeria international squirting in after being teed up by Adams, but it did not prevent a first home loss since September 19.

Hull head coach Liam Rosenior praised captain Jacob Greaves after he scored twice in the dramatic 2-1 win over Huddersfield.

Greaves hooked home in the seventh minute and then headed in the winner after Jack Rudoni’s stoppage-time equaliser had seemingly earned the Terriers a point at the John Smith’s Stadium.

Rosenior lauded Greaves for his fine finishing in what was his 200th senior game and for his defending alongside Alfie Jones.

“I was happy for Greavsie, it was his 200th career appearance and he captained his home team and scored two goals,” said Rosenior.

“Alfie and Greavsie were great for us today. I’m so proud of the players. That was a difficult game today. It was never going to be easy.

“Sometimes we’ve played way better than that and come out with a defeat or with a loss.

“What happens when you’re a goal up away from home, you’re caught between going for a second goal and keeping what you have got.

“As a team we have to be more switched on at throw ins. We switched off when the ball went out of play (before the Huddersfield goal). They get a cheap shot from the edge of the area and score.”

Greaves’ winner made it successive wins on the road in Yorkshire for the Tigers following victory at Rotherham.

The central defender had hooked in following an early first-half corner and his diving header late in the game silenced the home fans who were still celebrating an equaliser from Rudoni.

Hull lie just outside the play off places on goal difference but a win for fellow strugglers QPR left the Terriers just two points above the relegation zone.

Huddersfield caretaker manager Jon Worthington, who hands over to new boss Andre Breitenreiter on Monday, had expected a tough game against the Tigers.

He said: “The game was pretty much as I expected it to be. First half the energy levels weren’t quite there.

“Second half we really re-energised. The subs gave us a little bit more impetus.

“To get back in the game so late, it was a bit of a sucker punch to lose it in the end.

“That’s why you can’t shut off for a minute because you get punished.

“The game kind of went the way I thought it would, but it was disappointing to lose it how we did.

“That’s the fine lines against quality teams and you get punished. The players will bounce back, they will dust themselves off and get on with it.”

Hull captain Jacob Greaves snatched a dramatic stoppage-time winner as his side kept pace in the Championship play-off race with a 2-1 victory at Huddersfield.

Greaves had put Hull ahead in the seventh minute and, after Jack Rudoni had seemingly earned the home side a point in added time, netted a diving header in the dying stages to earn victory.

Back-to-back wins following a disappointing home defeat by Swansea has left Liam Rosenior’s side out of the top six only on goal difference while the Terriers lie two points above the relegation zone.

Jaden Philogene forced Huddersfield goalkeeper Lee Nicholls to deflect over for the first corner when the forward made the most of good work by Fabio Carvalho and Ozan Tufan to shoot from the edge of the area.

The Terriers failed to clear it and when the ball fell to Greaves 12 yards out, he hooked left footed towards goal and a diving Nicholls got a hand to it but was unable to stop it crossing the line.

Hull should then have paid the price for giving the ball away at the back, but Josh Koroma curled well over from 20 yards.

The visitors were forced into the first change after half an hour as on-loan Liverpool midfielder Tyler Morton limped off following a second spell of treatment.

Ben Wiles’ rising shot was beaten away by Hull goalkeeper Ryan Allsop diving high to his right to preserve his side’s lead five minutes before the interval.

Alex Matos shot through the legs of Alfie Jones, but Allsop got down to block the midfielder’s shot after 50 minutes as the home side tried to force their way back into the game.

Sorba Thomas sent Rudoni clear inside his full-back with a pinpoint pass but the cross from the winger failed to reach a Huddersfield player.

The pressure was increasing from the Terriers and when Thomas curled in a cross from the left it was just too deep for Rudoni.

Tufan sent a dangerous ball across the home box which Jonathan Hogg cleared at the expense of a corner with an hour gone.

Substitutes Brahima Diarra and Delano Burgzorg created openings in quick succession as Hull continued to weather the home side’s pressure.

Thomas curled in a low shot from the left with his right foot and the ball deflected off a Hull defender before hitting the far post.

The game had entered stoppage time when Rudoni’s left foot shot beat Allsop from the edge of the area.

But Huddersfield’s fans were soon silenced as Greaves headed in a cross cross from substitute Abdulkadir Omur in the fourth minute of added time.

Jaden Philogene has been credited with Hull’s opening goal at Rotherham on Tuesday night for his rabona which set the Tigers on their way to a 2-1 win.

With Hull trailing 1-0 at the New York Stadium with 20 minutes left, midfielder Philogene produced a fine bit of skill to beat Ollie Rathbone twice in the right side of the penalty area.

Philogene, 22, then clipped the ball goalwards with a rabona kick, which glanced off Millers’ defender Cameron Humphreys and into the top corner of the net.

Initially, Philogene’s improvised effort had been credited as an own-goal for Humphreys.

However, on Wednesday afternoon a post on Hull’s official X account, formerly known as Twitter, read: “It’s official. It’s JP23’s goal!”

Speaking after the match, Hull boss Liam Rosenior said: “We should give him the goal, we need to appeal to the FA for the outrageous piece of skill.

“He is trying to beg it in the dressing room that it’s his goal. I said to him that at least it’s an assist. That is Jaden’s goal, it’s what we pay money for.

“Ridiculous, it’s ridiculous, his ability is something we have missed for a long time. He is only going to get better the more games he plays.”

Noah Ohio went on to score the winner just four minutes after Philogene’s goal as play-off chasing Hull completed the comeback.

Liam Rosenior believes Jaden Philogene deserves to be credited with Hull’s “ridiculous” opening goal in their 2-1 win at Rotherham.

Philogene pulled off a fine bit of skill to beat Ollie Rathbone twice and then produce a rabona that nicked off Cameron Humphreys and into the net.

It was officially given as a Humphreys own-goal and then four minutes later Noah Ohio swept home for Hull as they overturned Christ Tiehi’s early opener for Rotherham.

Tigers head coach Rosenior joked that the dubious goal panel should award Philogene the goal.

“We should give him the goal, we need to appeal to the FA for the outrageous piece of skill,” he said.

“He is trying to beg it in the dressing room that it’s his goal. I said to him that at least it’s an assist. That is Jaden’s goal, it’s what we pay money for.

“Ridiculous, it’s ridiculous, his ability is something we have missed for a long time. He is only going to get better the more games he plays.

“It is not just his goal or the showreel moments, it is his energy levels for the team, he has a real belief, he can be a top player but the reason he can be a top player is because he works so hard on his game.

“We have to get him off the training pitch because he wants to do extra.”

Hull moved up to seventh and on the cusp of the play-off picture with the win, while Rotherham moved closer to a return to League One.

They are 12 points adrift of safety and without a win since Boxing Day.

Boss Leam Richardson, who is trying to remain upbeat, said: “Congratulations to Hull, they are having a good season and invested really well in the summer and the January window.

“We wanted to start with a real strong intent, to be in the ascendency and we did that.

“We had a mad five or 10 minutes, I thought we missed a big chance with 1-0 with Sam (Nombe) and they went down the other end and scored.

“Disappointed to concede the way we did. I will never criticise lads for honest mistakes on the pitch but obviously we have to stop making them.

“The Championship is as strong as it has been for 20 years and walking into this situation and this football club I was very aware of it, I could have shied away from it. It’s not in my make up.

“I know where this club wants to be and at the end of the season and next season, what we want to sustain.

“Things have got to be put into place to do that moving forward and certainly leaders of the club are aware of it and we will try our best to make positive decisions.”

Hull scored twice in four second-half minutes to boost their Championship play-off hopes with a 2-1 win at rock-bottom Rotherham.

The Millers had taken a surprise lead when Christ Tiehi opened the scoring in the fourth minute, but that proved to be far too early for them.

Their goal had taken a battering, with goalkeeper Viktor Johansson staging a one-man defiance with a string of saves to keep the Tigers at bay.

It needed an own-goal from Cameron Humphreys to draw Hull level in the 71st minute and then Noah Ohio completed the turnaround four minutes later.

They moved into seventh position ahead of another batch of games on Wednesday and are firmly in the play-off picture with 15 games to go.

Rotherham look certain to be exiting the division at the other end, sitting 12 points adrift of safety and without a win since Boxing Day.

The hosts made a perfect start and went ahead in the fourth minute as Tiehi latched on to Seb Revan’s cross and saw his side-footed effort deflected into the corner.

The Millers should have doubled their lead three minutes later as Peter Kioso’s header from Sam Clucas’ cross was brilliantly clawed away by Ryan Allsop.

They could have done with that going in as the visitors launched an assault on the Rotherham goal for the remainder of the match.

Goalkeeper Johansson was in inspired form and kept his side in front.

The Sweden international palmed away Billy Sharp’s header and then produced a miraculous stop to shovel away another from Jacob Greaves before getting down well to save Anass Zaroury’s low effort at the near post.

The second half also saw Johansson in early action as he kept out Fabio Carvalho’s header with a flying save.

Rotherham needed to stem the tide and had a rare sighting of goal when Sam Nombe was left free from Kioso’s cross but he could not make sufficient contact with his header.

Hull’s attacking onslaught eventually paid dividends as they equalised in the 71st minute.

Former Millers loanee Ryan Giles thundered a shot off the underside of the crossbar and home midfielder Ollie Rathbone played a pass straight to Jaden Philogene, who twisted and turned and then sent in a rabona cross that flicked off Humphreys and into the far corner.

Four minutes later Hull took the lead as Giles fired in a low cross for Ohio to sweep into the bottom corner for his first goal for the club.

Rotherham have not come from behind to win since last April so that was game over, with Hull returning up the M18 with three points.

Liam Rosenior felt Hull’s 1-0 home defeat to Swansea was deserved after they dropped out of the Sky Bet Championship’s top six.

Liam Cullen scored after 10 minutes as the Swans pulled further away from the relegation zone by beating a Hull side who lacked the final pass to open up their opponents.

Rosenior admitted: “We didn’t deserve anything today. One of the few times I can say that since I’ve been here.

“When you do that, you give the opposition momentum. Credit to Swansea, we gave them a leg up and they won the game.”

Swansea benefited from Cullen’s free run into the area and Rosenior admitted his players needed to be more astute in that kind of situation.

He said: “If we mark the player properly we don’t get blocked. That’s the things we work on in training.

“One, our performance wasn’t good enough by our standards, and two, we’ve cost ourselves a point.

“We gave the ball away cheaply and when you do that you give the opposition energy, you give them oxygen.

“I told (the players) what we have to improve on. We have to bounce back from the setbacks. We need to learn on the job.”

Cullen got the only goal of the game when he ran into the Hull area to meet a low corner with a pinpoint shot which nestled in the bottom-left corner of the goal.

Hull looked short of the ideas which could have unlocked the determined defending of Swansea and their best chance fell to second-half substitute Billy Sharp.

The forward got on the end of a long pass from Ozan Turfan and prodded the ball past onrushing goalkeeper Carl Rushworth, only to see Nathan Wood race back to clear short of the goal-line.

Turfan had headed straight at Rushworth when the ball fell to him unmarked in the Swansea area in a first half where the Tigers lacked the nous to unlock the visitors’ defence.

Cullen could have doubled his tally in the second half only to shoot wide when well-placed.

Luke Williams felt his side deserved to take the win and also praised the work of assistant Alan Sheehan on set-pieces after Swansea claimed the winner from a well-worked corner routine.

Williams said: “I think the players deserved that, a fantastic performance and even more fantastic result.

“There are quite a few things, the openings that we made were very deliberate.

“I loved the work-of-art set-piece, and the players delivered on that and scored.

“When you watch Alan go to work on a set-piece and then see the players deliver on that it’s a privilege.

“We scored a goal away from home against a very good team and the back-line led us well, they kept us aggressive.”

Williams praised Cullen for the way he had come into the team in place of Jerry Yates to score the only goal.

“Liam has come in said ‘I need to do the same level of work that Jerry has done and take my chance’.

“We have lovely competition between these two players, it’s good to develop this kind of rivalry within the team.

“I really felt a strong positive energy in the changing room going into this game and we played like we believed.”

Hull boss Liam Rosenior admitted he felt nervous before the 1-0 Sky Bet Championship win over Millwall.

There was a feelgood factor around the club after a successful transfer window saw the likes of Fabio Carvalho, Ryan Giles and Anass Zaroury arrive at the MKM Stadium.

Rosenior was keen to keep momentum going and the Tigers did just that, securing a second consecutive victory courtesy of fit-again winger Jaden Philogene’s fifth-minute strike.

“It was a really pleasing day because I was fearful before the game that there had been so much positive news surrounding the club,” Rosenior told the club’s official website.

“As a manager, sometimes, that makes you a little bit nervous; I didn’t want us to be complacent and all of the noise we needed to filter out.

“Some of our football in the first half was excellent and it’s great to be able to say we can improve after winning a game of football.”

Rosenior handed Giles and Zaroury their debuts following their loan moves from Luton and Burnley respectively.

“In terms of the first-half performance, other than really having teeth and finishing off Millwall, there were some really good signs – for Anass, his first game, Ryan Giles, his debut, and Jaden’s first game back in two months,” he added.

“I wanted the second goal because I felt our energy levels would tail off naturally.

“Overall, delighted to win the game and a lot of positive signs in the way we want to play – the understanding, the connection between the players.”

Millwall improved after the break and Zian Flemming and Tom Bradshaw almost nicked a point.

Lions boss Joe Edwards bemoaned his side’s first-half display.

Edwards told the club’s official website: “Very much a game of two halves in terms of our performance. We didn’t play well in the first half.

“They get a dream start after four minutes, albeit a sloppy error from us around the box, but someone hits an absolute rocket against the bar and it rebounds to their player and he finishes really well.

“They really grew in confidence and they are a team that loves to drift around the pitch and play good possession.

“They are a good footballing team. That is why they are up that end of the division, and we respect that.

“But we had our moments to take the sting out the game, as we have done in other games in recent weeks, but we didn’t do it and we were a bit sloppy.

“Second half we were a lot sharper in what we were doing, we were cleaner on the ball.

“In that final 20 minutes we were a lot clearer of what our idea was supposed to be, using our wing-back and switching play, and we had more about us.”

Birmingham manager Tony Mowbray said his substitutions changed the game after his side’s late FA Cup replay 2-1 win over Hull.

Mowbray made five changes just after the hour-mark and the substitutes made an immediate impact.

Jay Stansfield equalised in the 66th minute after Jason Lokilo had opened the scoring with his first Hull goal after 12 minutes.

Another of Mowbray’s substitutes, Koji Miyoshi, scored the winner in stoppage time to set up a fourth-round tie at Leicester.

“The substitutions undoubtedly changed the game with the quality they brought,” said Mowbray.

“My intention was always to provide energy so I was always going to make substitutions. The supporters will get used to that.

“Modern day football is why you have to have a squad, you don’t weaken your team by making substitutions, you freshen it up.

“You make sure the lads who aren’t starting know they have an important part to play in the match.

“You have to love the players and trust them, they have to know the gaffer’s on their side. You can’t just have 11, everyone has to be part of the team.”

“The lads who came on brought how we want to play and what we want to do, they got their rewards.”

Mowbray praised his side’s determination to win the game in stoppage time.

“There were lots of positives from the game and we got the job done,” he said.

“That’s two games on the bounce where we’ve got something late on.

“I saw a message at the training ground, ‘Keep Right On’ and that’s what we’ll do.

“We’ll go right to the end and see if we can get the benefits.”

Mowbray says Fulham can recall Stansfield from his loan at St Andrew’s, but feels the player wants to stay. Stansfield scored one and assisted the winner.

“There is a small, tight window for Fulham to recall him,” said Mowbray. “It hasn’t closed, but I get on well with Marco Silva and he’d tell me if there were any issues.

“I think the kid loves it here when I look him in the eye, there are other interested parties but I think he wants to stay, score goals and progress his career. He’s in a good place here.”

Hull manager Liam Rosenior says it is time his side stopped receiving praise for their performance without getting the result.

“I was proud of the young players and their performance. But we ran out of legs.

“I have to be so careful at the moment as we have injuries coming out of our ears and two players on AFCON duty,” said Rosenior.

“We also have an important game against Sunderland coming up on Friday.

“I have to manage the squad in the right way. We couldn’t fill the bench here. But, yet again, we’ve somehow managed to throw away a comfortable position and lose the game.

“It’s hard, I’m frustrated. I’m sick and tired of coming in after the game and saying ‘Well done, the performance was great, but we didn’t get the rewards’.

“This has to be the last time. It’s a watershed moment in our season, this result has summed up a lot of our games.

“But I don’t throw players under the bus,  but we have to knuckle down. We’ll come through this.”

A stoppage-time goal from Koji Miyoshi earned Birmingham a 2-1 win over Hull in their FA Cup third-round replay.

The result earned Tony Mowbray his first victory since taking over as manager at St Andrew’s following the sacking of Wayne Rooney.

Birmingham had to come back from a goal down to win the tie after Jason Lokilo’s first goal for Hull put them ahead after 12 minutes.

Mowbray made five substitutions just past the hour-mark and it was a move that changed the game.

Two of those substitutes scored, with Jay Stansfield equalising three minutes after coming on.

Both sides named differing line-ups for the tie, with Birmingham making seven changes from the weekend and Hull 11, presumably with Friday’s match against Sunderland in mind.

Birmingham threatened more in the opening minutes, with Keshi Anderson and Gary Gardner testing goalkeeper Matt Ingram.

However, it was Hull who opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a superbly executed move.

Billy Sharp, in his first start for Hull, made the most of a slip by Krystian Bielik and found James Furlong on the left. His cross was converted first time by Lokilo from eight yards.

The former Crystal Palace youngster made a summer move to Humberside from Dutch side Sparta Rotterdam.

Hull went in search of a second goal, but Greg Docherty’s long-range effort swung away from the target.

Birmingham sensed an equaliser and when Jordan James delivered a ball into the area, Romelle Donovan just failed to connect with it in front of goal.

Gardner’s overhead kick was met by Bielik six minutes before the break, but he headed wide of the target.

Blues goalkeeper John Ruddy kept his side’s deficit to one goal when he made an important save from Hull forward Tyrell Sellars-Fleming.

Jordan James responded for Mowbray’s side with an angled shot that flew just wide of the far post.

Mowbray’s raft of changes had an immediate effect as two substitutes combined to score the equaliser. Miyoshi’s shot was pushed out by Ingram, with Stansfield converting the rebound for his eighth goal of the season.

Siriki Dembele almost scored a second for Birmingham when he floated a long-range effort narrowly wide.

With extra-time looming, Miyoshi forced the ball home after being supplied by Stansfield to book a fourth-round trip to Leicester.

David Wagner has “no concern” about the possibility of Jon Rowe leaving Norwich this month after the young winger underlined why he is so highly-rated with a moment of magic at Hull.

Rowe has reportedly been courting interest from West Ham and Aston Villa and the 20-year-old took his tally for the season to a dozen in all competitions with a fabulous solo goal at the MKM Stadium.

After dispossessing Tyler Morton, Rowe jinked forwards then ghosted past a couple of defenders before dispatching a shot with the outside of his right boot, which arced past Ryan Allsop and into the net.

While he helped Norwich record a 2-1 victory to move to within two points and places of the Sky Bet Championship play-offs, interest in Rowe may now increase following his latest star showing.

But when asked how hard it will be to keep hold of Rowe in this transfer window, Wagner said: “I have no concern that there is any problems.”

The Norwich manager was impressed with the overall display of a player who only made his first senior start in the reverse fixture at the outset of the season in August – which the Canaries also won 2-1.

Wagner added: “Obviously the goal was great, this is what he can produce. We have seen this a few times this season. I liked it a lot but what I liked as well was how he worked and defended.

“The effort and the shift he put in defensively for the team was technically very smart. He really supported his full-back, it was a good performance from him.

“If you consider he’s quite young and he made his first senior start at the beginning of the season, it makes it more interesting.”

Christian Fassnacht, who replaced Rowe in the closing stages, struck in the 88th minute and even though Morton’s injury-time screamer set up a grandstand finale, Norwich clung on for a first win of 2024.

After Hull slipped to a fourth defeat in five matches and missed out on a chance to move into the top six, boss Liam Rosenior admitted his frustration with referee Andrew Kitchen.

Norwich defender Dimitrios Giannoulis was perhaps lucky to avoid a red card moments before Rowe’s 36th-minute opener after swinging an arm at Lewie Coyle, while Aaron Connolly was substituted earlier having suffered a concussion.

A collision with visiting goalkeeper Angus Gunn left Connolly needing treatment before he was withdrawn after a quarter of an hour but what especially irked Rosenior was that Norwich were awarded a free-kick from the incident.

Rosenior said: “I can understand why the goalkeeper’s come out, I don’t know if you can punish him because they’re both going for the ball but it’s clearly our free-kick at the least.

“For us to be penalised for that pretty much sums up how I feel the refereeing decisions have gone against us this season. I thought his performance helped them in every aspect of the game.

“We wanted to play football, we wanted to restart the game, they wanted to slow the game down and make tactical fouls and the referee bought every single one.”

Michael Beale challenged his players to show greater levels of consistency after securing a first win as Sunderland manager with a 1-0 victory at Hull.

Beale’s men moved above the Tigers into the top six of the Sky Bet Championship following Jack Clarke’s 11th goal of the season after 82 minutes.

Sunderland lost 3-0 at home to Coventry in Beale’s first game in charge on Saturday, but responded by recording a first away win since September.

The former Rangers boss said: “I knew it would be a tough game and that we hadn’t won away from home for a long time, but I thought we should have won by more.

“We missed some big chances. Some of our interplay was good and it was just whether we could execute that in the final third.

“I’m absolutely delighted with the mentality of the side.

“That’s a big, big positive, but the big thing for me is that we need consistency. We must back it up against Rotherham.

“The inconsistency tells me we can’t get too high or too low – it’s important we keep going.”

The game was meandering towards a draw until Clarke provided the one moment of quality when he cut inside from the left before calmly steering the ball into the bottom-right corner.

Beale added: “We hadn’t much time to work with the players and it was demoralising on Saturday, what with the way the game went.

“Hull are really dangerous opponents and to come away with a clean sheet was fantastic.

“I think sometimes we are a little bit fussy in the final third – trying to score a perfect goal.

“It’s got to be more effective, but that was a special goal from Jack.

“It was a great three points, but we have to recover and now prepare for Rotherham.”

Hull have now lost back-to-back games, with head coach Liam Rosenior once again rueful of a lack of precision in front of goal.

He said: “It was a very evenly matched game between two teams pushing for the top six.

“I thought we had the better chances, but they also had some degree of control.

“We’re not taking control of the big moments of games – we didn’t take our chances when they came our way.

“I’m tired of coming out with the same story. We haven’t got the points our performances deserve.

“At 0-0 with 20 minutes to go we had to make sure we kept the back door shut.

“It’s a difficult one to take, but we now have to focus on a difficult game against Blackburn.

“We have to be more clinical at one end and more ruthless at the other. If we do that we’ve got the makings of a really good team.

“The players are a frustrated group as they know how good they can be.”

Bristol City head coach Liam Manning reflected on winning a Christmas cracker against Hull and admitted: “We like to do things the hard way.”

His side led through Tommy Conway’s 24th-minute penalty, awarded for handball against Jacob Greaves, only to fall behind by half-time to Aaron Connolly’s solo strike and an Ozan Tufan spot-kick after referee Ben Toner spotted a dubious foul on Greaves in a crowded box.

Anis Mehmeti matched the brilliance of Connolly’s goal with a similar effort to equalise on 77 minutes and after Hull lost goalkeeper Ryan Allsop to an injury sustained trying to prevent that goal, Knight beat his replacement Matt Ingram with a deflected effort to settle the outcome.

Manning joked that he had aged 10 years during the previous home win over Sunderland and again had his emotions put through the wringer.

He said: “Up to our goal, we were excellent and caused them real problems. Then we got a bit emotional and they took advantage as a very good side who are well coached and on a good run of form.

“The less said about Hull’s penalty the better. There was so little contact on their player and I’m just glad the result wasn’t influenced by a poor refereeing decision.

“But we responded to the setback well, even in the final minutes of the first half, and the second-half performance was excellent.

“We got on the front foot and showed some moments of real quality. We spoke at half-time and there was so much good in the first half that I didn’t want to derail it.

“The message to the players was that we faced a terrific challenge and could either step up and build on our good first-half play or let the penalty decision have an adverse effect.”

Hull head coach Liam Rosenior, a former player for both clubs, was serving a one-match touchline ban and admitted: “Watching from the stand was horrendous. I have learned my lesson and never want to let it happen again.

“Credit to Bristol for playing well, but for us it was three points dropped. I sound like a broken record when I say that we didn’t get the result we deserved.

“Our level of performance was again good, but we have to manage games better because the end product is all-important. It’s so frustrating because we should have more points on the board than we have.

“The defeat was self-inflicted. There was so much good in the way we played.

“Ryan Allsop hurt his back diving for their second goal and that is just bad luck.

“I believe that if you perform consistently over the course of a season you will end up where you deserve to be. We were by far the better team, but key moments in the game have cost us.”

Jason Knight’s 84th-minute strike earned Bristol City a thrilling 3-2 Championship win over Hull at Ashton Gate.

The hosts took a 24th-minute lead when Jacob Greaves handled Tommy Conway’s glancing header and Conway sent goalkeeper Ryan Allsop the wrong way from the spot.

But Hull battled back to equalise on 33 minutes through Aaron Connolly and went in front eight minutes later with the game’s second penalty, coolly converted by Ozan Tufan after referee Ben Toner spotted a foul on Greaves as he contested a free-kick from the left.

Anis Mehmeti brilliantly equalised and a terrific advertisement for Championship football ended with Bristol fans celebrating thanks to Knight, while those who had made the long journey from Hull could console themselves with the fact that their team had given everything.

Bristol had the better of the opening exchanges, Knight forcing saves from Allsop with a shot and a header before Conway’s opener.

But Zak Vyner had already made a saving tackle on Connolly before the striker’s fine solo equaliser, cutting in from the left to drill a sweet low drive beyond the reach of City goalkeeper Max O’Leary.

The home side bitterly disputed the penalty decision that put them behind but Hull were worthy of their interval lead after finishing the first half strongly.

O’Leary saved well from Tufan after one of several strong runs by Liam Delap, who caused problems down the right wing for Hull.

Bristol began the second period well and Conway was just wide with a near-post volley from a Taylor Gardner-Hickman cross.

Again Hull rallied and Lewie Coyle shot wide from distance after two corners in quick succession.

Delap had a shot from a narrow angle saved by O’Leary and Connolly saw a fierce volley blocked as Liam Rosenior’s men wrestled back the initiative.

At the other end Greaves did well to get in the way of a close-range shot from Knight.

Both teams looked to play out from the back and through midfield as an entertaining contest developed.

On 77 minutes, Mehmeti matched Connolly’s goal with a brilliant solo effort, racing in from the left and placing a perfect low shot beyond the diving Allsop.

Hull had to substitute Allsop through injury on 82 minutes and two minutes later replacement Matt Ingram was beaten by Knight’s fierce shot from just inside the box, which took a deflection.

There were chances at both ends right into seven minutes of stoppage time, when Hull substitute Adama Traore volleyed narrowly wide at the near post.

Neither side deserved to lose and rightly received a rousing ovation at the end of a brilliant game.