Rubén Sellés secured his first win in charge of Hull City with a 2-1 victory at home to Swansea City.
Goals in each half from João Pedro and Mason Burstow saw the Tigers secure all three points in our final home game of 2024.
The Tigers made two changes to his starting XI from the last fixture against Coventry City. Alfie Jones and Gustavo Puerta came in for Sean McLoughlin and Kasey Palmer respectively, while two players made milestones. Ryan Giles made his 150th appearance in the Championship, excluding play-off fixtures, while Ryan Longman made his 50th start for the Tigers, with all 50 coming in the league.
After no clear-cut chances were created in the opening quarter-of-an-hour, the Tigers had the first chance of the game as Giles’ low cross found a free Regan Slater on the edge of the six-yard area, but the midfielder placed his first-time finish wide of the target.
Swansea’s Joshua Key found Žan Vipotnik with a great curling cross, but the striker could only find the hands of Ivor Pandur in the Hull goal, before Puerta hit the post with a thunderous strike. Pedro headed the ball down for the midfielder, who skipped past a number of challenges before striking the post with his shot. The rebound deflected off the back of Lawerence Vigouroux’s foot before bouncing behind.
In the 34th minute, City took a deserved lead as Puerta found Steven Alzate. The midfielder in-turn threaded the ball through for Pedro. The striker’s shot deflected off Ben Cabango to beat Vigouroux at his near post.
Moments later, City almost had a second as Vigouroux dropped Lewie Coyle’s cross. As Longman tried to divert the ball goal wards, Puerta struck the loose ball towards goal, with Longman accidentally blocking as Swansea survived.
Swansea searched for a way back in the game as Darling saw his effort from range defect wide, before the defender equalised for the visitors with three minutes of the half to go, as ex-Tiger Josh Tymon found the run of Darling at the back post to head home.
In the second half, Vigouroux saved well one-on-one to deny Pedro a second, with the striker seeing his later shot blocked, before Vipotnik narrowly missed Tymon’s cross at the back post from Swansea.
Past the hour mark, Longman picked out substitute Mason Burstow, but his header was held by Vigouroux. It was end-to-end as Swansea hit the woodwork themselves when Darling was found by Matt Grimes’ corner. The defender in-turn headed it to Cabango, whose header hit the post, before Darling teed up Myles Peart-Harris to blast the ball over the bar.
Possession
58%Shots
9Shots On Target
2Corners
5Fouls
113
0
Cards
2
0
In the final quarter of the game, Giles saw his free-kick blocked by the Swansea wall prior to Vigouroux gathering Burstow’s finish at the second attempt. Hughes was next to take aim from distance, testing Vigouroux before City took the lead with 10 minutes to play.
Vigouroux’s loose pass was intercepted by Burstow, who drove the ball forward before curling his right-footed finish into the far corner.
City could have had a third a minute later as Longman’s low drive hit the foot of the post.
Attendance: 20,024
Hull City: Pandur, Coyle (Drameh 71'), Jones, Hughes, Giles, Slater, Alzate (Simons 61'), Puerta (Mehlem 85'), Kamara (Burstow 61'), João Pedro, Longman
Subs: McLoughlin, Bedia, Ömür, Jacob, Racioppi.
Swansea: Vigouroux, Key, Cabango, Darling, Tymon, Fulton, Grimes, Peart-Harris, Cullen, Eom Ji-Sung (Ronald 64'), Vipotnik (Bianchini 64')
Subs: Gonçalo Franco, Tjoe-A-On, Christie, Naughton, Abbey, McLaughlin, Abdulai.
Highlights and reaction from Hull City 2-1 Swansea City is available on Tigers+!