Hull City relinquished a 2-1 lead to lose to Bristol City in a topsy-turvy clash at Ashton Gate.
Tommy Conway’s penalty was overturned by Aaron Connolly’s curling finish and Ozan Tufan’s spot-kick to put the Tigers ahead.
But two goals in the final 14 minutes from Anis Mehmeti and Jason Knight condemned the visitors to a third defeat in five matches.
Unchanged from the victory over Cardiff City, the Tigers were targeting a third successive win for the first time under Liam Rosenior, who was watching from the stands following his FA charge.
The 39-year-old, who made 28 appearances for the Robins, was involved the last time we won a league game at Ashton Gate back in October of the 2012/13 Championship promotion season.
His team dominated possession in the early exchanges, although Bristol City had the first efforts on goal as Jason Knight fired straight at Ryan Allsop before heading over from Cameron Pring’s cross.
Zak Vyner’s perfectly timed sliding invention thwarted Connolly as he bore down on goal and took on greater significance as the hosts hit the front on 25 minutes.
Conway’s glancing header from George Tanner’s centre struck the hand of Jacob Greaves, with the forward calmly stroking home the resulting spot-kick, sending Allsop the wrong way.
Just like at Middlesbrough, the visitors responded strongly and had the lead within 17 minutes of falling behind.
Pring’s close-range block denied Liam Delap and Tufan’s firm strike was repelled by Max O’Leary – but the keeper was helpless when Connolly curled a delightful right-footed finish into the bottom corner.
A Pring pull back on Greaves was penalised by referee Ben Toner and presented Tufan with an opportunity he never looked like wasting – the midfielder slotting the spot-kick straight down the middle.
Possession
51%Shots
16Shots On Target
4Corners
6Fouls
112
0
Cards
3
0
Conway diverted Taylor Gardner-Hickman’s cross wide at the near post shortly after the restart and Connolly’s acrobatic effort was blocked by Vyner after a sweeping move.
An excellent lunging block from Greaves foiled Jason Knight and Tufan glanced a header inches past the post from Scott Twine’s corner with 20 minutes left.
From almost establishing a two-goal advantage, the Tigers were pegged back six minutes later as Mehmeti cut inside from the left and arrowed a low drive into the far corner.
Allsop was withdrawn through injury after pushing away a low shot towards the same corner, with Matt Ingram taking his place.
The substitute shot-stopper was picking the ball out of his net with six minutes remaining when Knight’s drive from distance took a telling deflection off Greaves and flew into the corner.
Adama Traoré hooked a near-post volley wide from Delap’s accurate pull-back in the fourth minute of seven added as the Tigers’ final away game of 2023 ended in defeat.
Attendance: 20,246 (570 Hull City supporters).
Bristol C: O'Leary, Tanner, Vyner, Dickie, Pring, Sykes (Bell 74'), James (Williams 74'), Gardner-Hickman, Mehmeti (Weimann 95'), Knight, Conway (Wells 74')
Subs: Williams, Cornick, Weimann, Bell, Wells, Bajic, Knight-Lebel, Yeboah, Nelson
Hull City: Allsop (Ingram 82'), Christie (Traoré 89'), Jones, Greaves, Coyle, Morton, Seri (Lokilo 82'), Delap, Tufan, Twine, Connolly (Slater 68')
Subs: Ingram, McLoughlin, Docherty, Traoré, Vaughan, Lokilo, Smith, Slater, Jacob
Watch extended highlights of Bristol City 3-2 Hull City on Tigers+
