Hull City 2-1 Leicester City: FLW report as Tigers record three successive wins with Foxes success | OneFootball

FLW reports from the MKM Stadium for this Championship fixture

Hull City recorded three successive victories for the first time since October 2024 with an impressive victory against newly-relegated Leicester City at the MKM Stadium in an end-to-end Championship clash.

Liam Millar opened the scoring six minutes in with a stunning effort which bent into the top-right-hand corner after just six minutes, marking his first start in 363 days in the best way possible, before Joe Gelhardt turned home his fourth of the season shortly after the half-hour mark for Sergej Jakirovic's side.

Second-half substitute Aaron Ramsey provided a stunning lifeline for the visitors on 67 minutes, with his second goal on loan from Burnley coming through a dipping strike from the edge of the box.

Marti Cifuentes' outfit piled on the pressure as the game reached its climax, but succumbed to just a second defeat since falling back into the second tier.

Hull City 2-1 Leicester City

It was Hull who made the brighter start, with Jakub Stolarczyk on his toes to deny a Kyle Joseph backheel after Millar skipped away from Hamza Choudhury and Abdul Fatawu with four minutes gone.

The Canadian would have to wait just two more minutes to score his first goal in 12 months, finishing off an impressive counter-attack with a stunning curling effort after Gelhardt's low cross initially bypassed Matt Crooks.

Leicester's first sign of a response came eight minutes later as Luke Thomas was given time to fizz a low ball into Jordan Ayew, who dragged his effort well wide.

The hosts were rather fortunate not to be pegged back on 19 minutes. Choudhury burst into the box and went one-on-one with Ivor Pandur, eventually finding Patson Daka in space, albeit the Zambian's strike was cleared off the line by Regan Slater.

Jakirovic's side squandered a fine chance to double their advantage nigh on the half-hour mark through Joseph, who blazed over the bar from 15 yards out after being slipped in by Crooks, with the chance met by chants in Cifuentes' direction from the travelling contingent.

However, their next chance was turned home on 31 minutes, as Millar and Ryan Giles linked up to great effect down the left, with the latter's teasing delivery tapped home by an unmarked Gelhardt, who scored his second in three days.

The normally instrumental Fatawu then brought the best out of Pandur, who was at full stretch to deny the Ghanaian the chance of adding another spectacular strike to his collection, before Stolarczyk just about denied Gelhardt from the following counter-attack in what was the last action of note in the first period.

Leicester looked to force the early second half issue in an attempt to salvage some form of result, with teenage sensation Jeremy Monga at the forefront of the action, albeit a tame effort from Boubakary Soumare was the best the Foxes could muster in the half's opening 10 minutes.

With Hull looking to kill the contest off, Joe Gelhardt was felled under pressure from Thomas inside the box, with Matthew Donohue opting to caution the Hull forward despite large claims for a spot-kick.

On the hour-mark, Cifuentes' side were unable to reduce the arrears despite fellow substitute Ramsey being given the freedom of the Hull penalty area to connect with a Soumare cross.

The Burnley loanee would then give his side a lifeline midway through the second period, with his strike dipping under the crossbar at the critical moment after Ayew was able to fend off the challenge of Charlie Hughes.

Hull's advantage was almost totally wiped out a minute later as Fatawu saw a fizzing effort fly just over the bar after being sent through on goal.

Gelhardt looked to reinstate the hosts' two-goal cushion 14 minutes from time after a neat one-two with the recently introduced Enis Destan, with Stolarczyk standing firm to keep Leicester in the contest.

With Hull just about hanging on heading into the final minutes, Ramsey mis-hit a golden chance to level the score as the Tigers were, once again, unable to regain control of proceedings.

Tension in the home sections reached maximum point when, shortly after seven added minutes were confirmed, Harry Winks smacked the inside of the post with a curling strike that left Pandur helpless.

Fatawu then saw a penalty claim of his own waved away after initially sprinting away from Akin Famewo in front of the Leicester support, before Ayew fired a speculative effort wide after a cheap giveaway by Darko Gyabi.

However, Hull were able to take the sting out of the final moments, climbing above their visitors into seventh place after a fifth win of the season and third on the spin.

FT: Hull City 2-1 Leicester City

Player Ratings

Hull City

Ivor Pandur - 6

Cody Drameh - 7

Semi Ajayi - 7.5

Charlie Hughes - 7

Ryan Giles - 7.5 (Famewo 59" - 7)

Amir Hadziahmetovic - 7 Gyabi 75" - 6.5)

Regan Slater - 6.5 (Egan 85" - 6)

Joe Gelhardt - 8 (Ndala 85" - 6)

Matt Crooks - 7.5

Liam Millar - 8

Kyle Joseph - 6.5 (Destan 73" - 6)

Unused Subs: Dillon Phillips, Lewie Coyle, Cathal McCarthy, David Akintola

Leicester City

Jakub Stolarzcyk - 6.5

Hamza Choudhury - 6.5 (Carranza 77" - 6)

Wout Faes - 6 (Kristiansen 88" - 6)

Jannik Vestergaard - 6.5

Luke Thomas - 6.5 (Okoli 77" - 6)

Boubakary Soumare - 6.5

Harry Winks - 7

Abdul Fatawu - 6.5

Jordan James - 6.5 (Ramsey 46" - 7.5)

Jordan Ayew - 7

Patson Daka - 6 (Monga 46" - 6.5)

Unused Subs: Asmir Begovic, Ricardo Pereira, Oliver Skipp, Silko Thomas

Hull City vs Leicester City Attendance

The attendance at the MKM Stadium tonight was 20,211.

Dean Holden reacts as Hull City continue winning streak vs Leicester City

Addressing the media in place of Jakirovic, Tigers assistant Dean Holden began: "It was an outstanding performance, I thought, against a really good opponent.

"We spoke about, pre-match, I think they're one of the favourites for promotion and we nullified them. Yes, they're going to have chances against you with the quality they've got.

"It was a great start to the game. What a moment - for everyone in the stadium - seeing Liam Millar score that goal in his first start, just a few days short of a year after (suffering injury). That started us off on the front foot," Holden explained.

"We then score an outstanding second goal. We've scored some good goals in the last few games, but that was right up there," he claimed.

"They made changes at half-time. We knew we'd come under it, but the lads who came into the game, I have to give a lot of credit to as well. Akin (Famewo) comes in at left-back against one of the best wingers in the division (Fatawu).

"Yes, he had a couple of moments. But, overall, I thought we nullified a really good team.

"I'm sure our fans are enjoying coming to the stadium right now, we're scoring goals. It's an exciting affair."

Marti Cifuentes reacts as Leicester City defeated by Hull City

Speaking after an underwhelming all-round performance, Cifuentes told the media: "It's a performance that is far from the standards and vision I have for the team and the club.

"The responsibility for that is that we conceded far too many transitions. The positioning was bad in the first half. We had to change our initial plan after 15-20 minutes because we couldn't handle the transitions, and it didn't get better. It was important to correct that at half-time.

"It was bad. It was really bad," he added. "I can't say anything else. The way we conceded two goals early on, the whole first-half performance wasn't good.

"We tried in the second half and got the chances to get at least a point, if not more. We cannot be satisfied.

"I wouldn't have been satisfied even if Winks scored the goal or Aaron (Ramsey) scored a second with one of the chances," Cifuentes stated.

"For me, the standards I want from my team are not the ones we showed in the first-half."