The Tigers eased to a morale-boosting win at the Riverside Stadium on Tuesday night
Hull City ended the calendar year with a battling, gritty 1-0 win at rivals Middlesbrough to extend their unbeaten run to five matches, and gain some revenge for the battering handed to them by the same opposition only three weeks ago.
In a typically strange football quirk, the game was completely different to the one where Boro won 4-1 at the start of the month, with City proving to be stubborn, awkward opposition.
And from the moment Darko Gyabi fired in after 12 minutes, it proved to be a lead the hosts could not cancel out, leaving the Tigers to revel in a fourth win in five as they moved to within two points of Boro in second place.
Here, City reporter Barry Cooper looks back on a fine night’s work on Teesside;
Adding a crucial string to their bow
We’ve said all season that 1-0 wins would be precious, that they’re the type of results that win you promotion. Since that humbling at home to Boro, the Tigers have kept three clean sheets in their last five matches. They’ve ground out wins over Wrexham, West Brom and now Boro without conceding a goal.
That’s huge progress for a team that was as leaky as a colander before that. We know they can score goals, but their biggest challenge has been keeping them out at the other end.
After conceding two really bad goals at Hillsborough, their show of strength and resilience at the Riverside was really, really impressive and should give them a blueprint for the second half of the season.
What a show of character
Given what happened at the start of the month, to come to Middlesbrough and scrap out a 1-0 win shows a huge amount of character and determination, and it showed in their resilience and performance.
There would have been some significant frustration after what happened then, and indeed, at Hillsborough, but the Tigers responded in style.
They even had to deal with setbacks along the way, with Ryan Giles being forced off after just five minutes, but young Cathal McCarthy came on and was superb, despite him being booked early on. His performance typified a gutsy, resolute showing.
When one door closes
There was a collective gasp around the City contingent in the Riverside press box when Giles went down and didn’t return. A feeling of ‘Here we go again’, especially given the ongoing issues with key players.
Despite the seismic blow in losing ‘Gilo’, young McCarthy came on and he was superb. The young Irishman looked nervous to start with and was booked, which left him walking a tightrope for the rest of the game, especially with a card-happy referee, but he stuck to his job manfully.
McCarthy may get more opportunities in the coming games, and based on his growth on Tuesday night, you wouldn’t fear him being thrown in again.
Akin Famewo is someone who’s had to be patient for his chance, but he was excellent on his first start and gave a glimpse of what a good job he can do. While it’s inherently frustrating losing so many players, it does also give the chance to others like McCarthy, Famewo and Gyabi, who probably wouldn’t have played had John Lundstram been available.
Treading carefully
It’s no doubt frustrating for City fans seeing Liam Millar and Oli McBurnie on the bench, but Jakirovic has to be so careful with the two players, given they’re just coming back from injury.
We’ve seen throughout the campaign how precarious recovery can be, and now, having lost Mo Belloumi for the next three months, they can ill-afford to be without those two at such a critical juncture of the campaign.
Injuries have plagued the Tigers, and most other teams throughout the term so far, but it does feel particularly unfortunate that they keep losing such key players, and robbing us of seeing them all together for any period of time. They’ll be sweating over Giles in the next 24 hours or so.
That’s 2025 done
What a rollercoaster it’s been. The year started with concern about where the club was going on the pitch, with a sense of doom that it could end in League One.
The summer saw yet another change in manager and a flurry of transfer problems, but it ends with City firmly in the mix for a place in the Premier League, as mad as that may well sound.
As disappointing as the draw at Hillsborough was, winning at Boro was terrific and now leaves the Tigers in a very healthy place in the league table at the turn of the year, and with two home games to get the ball rolling in the New Year.
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