Hull climbed into the Sky Bet Championship play-off places as Fabio Carvalho’s second-half strike secured a 1-0 win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light to earn their first victory this year.
Carvalho struck with 19 minutes remaining to settle a dour game on Wearside, volleying the ball home from the edge of the area via a deflection off Trai Hume.
Sunderland’s supporters jeered their own head coach Michael Beale in the closing stages of the game, with the former Rangers and QPR boss now having suffered three defeats in a row in all competitions.
Beale restored Ukrainian striker Nazariy Rusyn to Sunderland’s starting line-up, but the home side struggled to create chances against a well-organised Hull side.
Alex Pritchard floated a ball beyond the back post after Alfie Jones’ misplaced pass threatened to play the Tigers into trouble.
But Sunderland only recorded one effort at goal in the opening half-hour and even that was a tame effort, with Pritchard rolling a poor shot straight at Hull goalkeeper Ryan Allsop after breaking towards the edge of the penalty area.
Hull were no more threatening despite some slick midfield interplay that generally involved Liverpool loanee Carvalho, with their first strike at goal coming midway through the first half as Lewis Coyle shot over from the right of the box.
Coyle’s overlapping runs down the right were a feature of the visitors’ attacking play all evening and the right-back almost broke the deadlock just before the half-hour mark.
Ozan Tufan rolled the ball into his path, but Coyle’s stabbed effort was saved by Anthony Patterson.
The rest of the first half was a scrappy affair, with Hull picking up five yellow cards as a series of niggly fouls prevented the game from generating any kind of rhythm.
The quality of attacking play did not really improve after the interval, but Sunderland finally asked a serious question of Allsop on the hour mark.
A cross from the left was only cleared to Hume, who was loitering 25 yards from goal and – after taking a touch to bring the ball under control – the full-back fired in a dipping effort that was tipped over the crossbar.
It was either going to take a moment of magic or a slice of luck to break the deadlock and in the end, Hull’s opener in the 71st minute featured a bit of both.
Carvalho displayed excellent technique as he swivelled his body to fire in a first-time volley from Tyler Morton’s cross, but his shot might not have beaten Patterson had it not flicked off Hume’s head and changed direction.
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