The Tigers ended the year with one of their most impressive victories
Sergej Jakirovic, after Hull City produced an eye-catching 1-0 win at promotion rivals Middlesbrough to end 2025 in some style.
Despite losing Ryan Giles after just five minutes, the Tigers opened the scoring when Kyle Joseph teed up Darko Gyabi to slam in at the near post.
While Boro dominated the ball for much of the contest thereafter, Ivor Pandur was only tested sparingly in the closing stages, and in truth, City were fairly comfortable.
The win, their fourth in an unbeaten run of five games since losing to Boro at the start of December, moved them to within two points of the Teesside outfit in the final automatic promotion places.
“It’s a very big three points for us, especially against Boro, who, for me, are in the top three in this league,” Jakirovic told Hull Live at the Riverside Stadium.
“They showed three weeks ago that they killed us at home. It was a great opportunity for us to show that we had a bad day in the office on that day.
“We changed the system here. We tried to close the midfield, especially because they’re playing with two wingers inside, with two strikers, with (Hayden) Hackney and (Morgan) Whittaker, they are very dangerous, so we tried to stop this.
“I think we were very good in that and, defensively, tactically, with a lot of discipline and also we used our moment in the first half through Darko (Gyabi).
“In the second half, I was thinking that we would have much more space in the counter-attacks, but they stopped us. Ivor (Pandur) made two great saves, and in the end, we took three very, very important points.
“We showed the reaction, especially after Sheffield Wednesday, with energy, with intensity. Maybe in some situations we didn’t have such a calm pass, especially when they were in their own half of the pitch. We could go long towards their goalkeeper, but it’s a big boost for us.
“So too is the clean sheet, you know how we are desperate for clean sheets, and today in this place it’s very, very important.”
City will also hope for good news on Giles, who was keen to carry on after a spell of treatment, and he will be assessed over the next 24 hours.
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