Hull City 2-1 Swansea City: FLW report as Tigers seal long-awaited victory | OneFootball

FLW report live from the MKM Stadium

Ruben Selles claimed his maiden victory in charge of Hull City, as his side emerged 2-1 victors against Swansea City at the MKM Stadium.

Hull came into this encounter winless since October 1st, as well as having a horrendous run of form in HU3 across 2024, which had seen them accumulate three victories on home soil since January.

However, their recent woes were firmly put to one side on Saturday lunchtime, as Joao Pedro continued his fine individual form with the opener on 34 minutes, before summer signing Mason Burstow netted the decisive winner ten minutes from time.

Luke Williams' outfit came into this encounter off the back of a 3-2 collapse in South Wales to promotion-chasing Sunderland last weekend, and their struggles continued in East Yorkshire, despite Harry Darling's well-taken equaliser on the stroke of half-time.

Hull City end their winless run with victory over Swansea City

After an extremely drab opening 10 minutes of the encounter, Hull looked to seize the early initiative, with Lewie Coyle and Ryan Longman seeing crossing opportunities from either flank snuffed out by Ben Cabango and Harry Darling.

Ryan Giles then found space to make a dart from left-back, and after the Swans defence initially cleared their lines, Gustavo Puerta's curling delivery couldn't be fully capitalised on by Abu Kamara.

Giles - who was making his 150th Championship appearance - then fizzed an enticing ball in for Regan Slater to run onto, but the box-to-box midfielder - to the bemusement of most inside the MKM - spurned his effort wide of Laurence Vigouroux's net from six yards out.

The visitors' first chance of note came after 30 minutes, as Josh Key's swinging cross was met by the onrushing Zan Vipotnik. But, the Slovenian forward's effort was straight down the throat of Ivor Pandur.

Gustavo Puerta will have felt his creativity should've yielded the opening goal, with the Bayer Leverkusen loanee playing an exquisite 'keepy-uppy' to beat three Swansea men, before seeing his fierce drive smack the inside of the post, before diverting off Vigouroux's back and behind for a corner.

However, Selles' men would get their rewards a minute later.

Steven Alzate was able to skip away from Jay Fulton before finding Joao Pedro in space inside the box, with the experienced frontman squeezing the ball past the Swans keeper at his near post, sending the majority of the MKM into ecstasy.

Williams' side were almost the architects of their own downfall immediately after the restart, with Longman unable to capitalise on an almighty scramble in the penalty area.

Darling then saw a long-range drive deflected behind for a Swans corner, and it wouldn't be long before the centre-back would go one better.

Once again, Hull's defensive weaknesses were exposed as former Tiger, Josh Tymon's inviting cross was nodded home by the 25-year-old, who was left completely unmarked inside the six-yard box.

Once again, the opening minutes of the second-half proved extremely lacklustre, with Hull carving out the first half-chance, with Slater caught in two minds whether to play in Pedro or Kamara, before Key was able to halt the danger as the ball was fed out onto City's left flank.

Swansea were then fortunate to stay level, as a backpass from Grimes sold Vigouroux short, seeing Pedro intercept and look to take it round the keeper, before being forced wide and seeing the chance dissipate.

Hull could've easily conceded themselves in the subsequent counter-attack, with Vipotnik unable to get on the end of a fizzing ball from Eom-Ji-Sung.

Mason Burstow's introduction in place of Kamara saw Longman interchange to the right side of Hull's midfield, but the summer recruit was unable to generate enough power on a header from his colleague's whipped delivery.

Fulton then played a searching lob to Swans substitute, Florian Bianchini. The French striker saw his close-range header diverted behind from a corner, before Darling was once again left unmarked inside the box as his effort smacked the right-hand post.

After going on a mazy run from midfield, Puerta was hacked down on the edge of the box, but Giles' subsequent free-kick was unable to test Vigoroux, going straight into the wall before Burstow tried his luck with a speculative low drive.

Fellow City sub, Cody Drameh's searching ball found its way to Slater courtesy of a mistimed interception from Tymon. However, the Tigers' final ball was lacking as his low cross evaded both Pedro and Puerta inside the penalty area.

But, after dominating for a lengthy period, City's pressure would eventually tell with ten minutes remaining.

Burstow would net his second goal for the club with a sublime curling effort into the bottom right-hand corner, capitalising on a calamitous mistake from within the Swansea defence after their own goal-kick.

Hull then smelt blood and immediately went in search of a third to seal all three points, with a shot across Vigouroux's net from Longman smacking the inside of the left-hand post.

Despite going in search of a late equaliser to dampen the excitement of the home crowd, Ben Cabango's late half-volley was well dealt with by Jones and Hughes in the dying seconds, earning Hull a vital three points to lift them off the bottom of the Championship table.

As for the visitors, they have suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time in a month-and-a-half's worth of action, and will look to make up lost ground in the play-off race at the Swansea.Com Stadium against Queens Park Rangers on Boxing Day.

Player Ratings

Hull City

Ivor Pandur - 6

Lewie Coyle - 6.5 (Drameh 71" - 6)

Alfie Jones - 6.5

Charlie Hughes - 6.5

Ryan Giles - 6.5

Steven Alzate - 7 (Simons 60" - 6)

Regan Slater - 6.5

Gustavo Puerta - 7.5 (Mehlem 85" - 6)

Abu Kamara - 6.5 (Burstow 60" - 7.5)

Ryan Longman - 7

Joao Pedro - 7.5

Swansea City

Lawrence Vigouroux - 5

Josh Key - 7

Ben Cabango - 7

Harry Darling - 8

Josh Tymon - 7.5

Jay Fulton - 6

Matt Grimes - 6

Myles Peart-Harris - 6

Liam Cullen - 6.5

Eom-Ji-Sung - 6 (Ronald 64" - 6)

Zan Vipotnik - 6.5 (Bianchini 64" - 6)

Ruben Selles reacts to his first victory in charge of Hull City

Speaking to the media after his first victory in charge of the Tigers, Selles highlighted the psychological importance of his new side claiming a vital victory.

"I think it was a powerful feeling," the Spaniard began. "The club, the fans, the players, the staff have been waiting for that feeling long enough, and finally we've broken it."

Selles then believed that the overall structure of his side's performance was integral in securing a first success in over two-and-a-half months.

"I think we played a really good game," he said. "I think we were clear in what we wanted, we minimised our opponent, who are really difficult. I think we were aggressive, and the only time we weren't was when they scored."

"I think, when we made it 2-1, you could see a team continuing what they had been doing, not a team that retreated."

"Obviously, because of the opponent, there are a couple of situations where you need to defend your box because they go long. But, the team never gave the feeling of 'now we need to protect'. We kept the ball down, played and pressed," Selles explained. "We were clear in the triggers we used for this game."

The new City boss then highlighted the most important takeaways from his first 15 days in the job, as well as how Hull must create a positive wave of momentum in their current predicament.

"I think the victory is important, the three points are important, but for me, the most important thing was the performance, and the feeling in the performance," he added.

"The way we competed, the way we scored goals, the learning, and now is about, 'we are competitive', we can do things, now we need to start pushing forward."

"I just arrived, but for me it was important to see a team that we can recognise," Selles reiterated."Watford was it, today was it, Coventry not so much."

"For me, it was important to play the way we wanted to, and that's a good feeling."

"I think the message from today is we are competitive, we know that we need to fight for every inch on the pitch, and that we are as good as any team in the league," he concluded.

Luke Williams reacts to below-par Swansea City performance

Post-match, Williams cut an extremely frustrated figure because of a largely below-par collective performance from his side, which was reflected in the result.

"It was a dreadful performance from the team, and a result that matched it," the 43-year-old began.

"No," he stated. "I couldn't tell you at the moment, why? We certainly were very poor today."

Despite a strong ending to the first-half, when asked whether he thought his side would continue such momentum in the second period, Williams simply responded with, "No."

"I tried to watch the game from a performance point of view. Because, unless you drastically improve your performance, you know that it's (the equaliser) going to make a difference," the Swans boss added.

After capitulating against the Black Cats on home soil, Williams stated that he didn't fully expect a reaction from his side, despite the motivation that would've been fostered throughout the week on the training pitch.

"I wouldn't say that I expected it," Williams continued. "I was hoping that there'd be a reaction, but I wouldn't say I was definitely expecting one, as I don't think we're in that place yet."

"As a group, we don't exactly know what we're going to get. I was disappointed, but I wasn't expecting it."

Despite the fact that Hull emerged victorious, Williams believed that there wasn't much between the two sides in what he described as a clash lacking in quality.

he concluded.

Attendance

The attendance at the MKM for Hull's final home game of the calendar year was a figure of 20,024.

This included an approximate number of 250 who made the arduous pre-Christmas journey from South Wales.