Hull City 0-1 Leicester City

Riyad Mahrez celebrates with manager Nigel Pearson after scoring his fifth goal for Leicester

• Foxes end 13-game losing streak but remain bottom

• Mahrez scores second Premier League goal

• Konchesky and Quinn red carded late on

• Hull have won just once at home this season

Riyad Mahrez's first-half strike secured a first victory in 14 Premier League matches for bottom club Leicester at Hull's expense.

The Algerian winger fired in from the edge of the area to give manager Nigel Pearson victory at his former club.

Leicester rode their luck late on as Hull hit the post twice through Jake Livermore and Abel Hernandez.

Both teams ended the game with 10 men as Leicester's Paul Konchesky and the hosts' Stephen Quinn were dismissed.

This was billed as a "bigger game than the FA Cup Final" by Hull boss Steve Bruce as they started the day six points above Leicester.

Opposite number Pearson shunned his usual position in the directors' box and appeared on the touchline for the duration of a Premier League game for only the second time after serving a one-match ban.

The Tigers went into the match on a high following victory at Sunderland on Boxing Day but they struggled to get going in a cagey opening where both sides appeared to feel the magnitude of the game.

The visitors' Ben Hamer was the first keeper called into action as he kept out David Meyler's shot from long range.

But Leicester went on to snatch the lead on the break as a driving run from David Nugent found Mahrez, who cut in and found the bottom corner before celebrating with his manager.

The goal settled Pearson's side and Mahrez fired straight at Allan McGregor from another Nugent pass.

But Hull could have been level at the break with an unmarked Ahmed Elmohamady missing the target from six yards following Quinn's cross.

A partial floodlight failure disrupted proceedings in the second half although both managers agreed to play on despite parts of several lights being out.

Leicester had to defend their lead for most of the second 45 minutes, with Wes Morgan close to deflecting into his own net from a Robbie Brady cross.

Livermore was unfortunate to see his shot come back off the post as he broke free in the area before Hamer saved from substitute Hernandez following Elmohamady's long throw in.

Hernandez went even closer when his header struck the post before Curtis Davies' follow-up effort was cleared off the line by Danny Drinkwater.

Leicester were holding on as left-back Konchesky was dismissed for a second yellow card after he blocked Elmohamady late on.

But the numbers were level again as Quinn was adjudged to have handled while denying Nugent a clear goalscoring chance deep into stoppage time.

Hull manager Steve Bruce: "Today we threw everything at Leicester and missed chance after chance. We missed more chances today than we probably had in the last four or five games.

"When you need a bit of luck against a fellow rival, you need to score. Our home form is a real disappointment and we can't put our finger on it. We need to take our chances.

"It's a really disappointing result for us, there's no hiding from that. It kind of sums up the season."

Leicester manager Nigel Pearson: "I should be smiling a lot broader shouldn't I? It's a relief, that's the over-riding feeling. But we need to back it up.

"We know we've dropped an awful lot of points. A lot of our performances have deserved more than what we had today.

"Steve will feel his side should have won the game and we have had that feeling a number of times this season.

"You need different qualities to win football matches. Some of our recent performances have been really outstanding but we produced a grit and determination to keep the ball out of the net and we rode our luck.

"But we can't relax now. Let's not give mixed messages: we're still in a lot of trouble. It's important not to get too far adrift."

Nigel Pearson spent 17 months at Hull before leaving for Leicester

Hull manager Steve Bruce had described this game as "bigger than the FA Cup final"

Part of the KC Stadium floodlights failed in the second half but the game was able to continue

Uruguayan Abel Hernandez, who has scored just three times this season, holds his head in his hands after hitting the post

Paul Konchesky, who successfully appealed his last red card against Aston Villa earlier this month, is sent off by referee Phil Dowd