Hull City 6-0 Charlton Athletic

Abel Hernandez has scored 15 goals for Hull City this season

Abel Hernandez hit a hat-trick as Jose Riga's second spell as Charlton boss started with a hammering at Hull City.

The Belgian was reappointed on Thursday but saw his side go 2-0 down inside the opening 16 minutes thanks to two smart finishes from Hernandez.

Robert Snodgrass made it three with a wonderful finish before Hernandez got his hat-trick to make it 4-0.

After the break, Mo Diame fired home a classy shot and teenager Isaac Hayden's deflected effort ended the scoring.

It was another dire day in Yorkshire for Charlton, who have now conceded 11 goals in their last two games having been thumped 5-0 at Huddersfield on Tuesday.

That defeat led to interim boss Karel Fraeye being replaced by Riga, but the difficulty of his task was made evident inside the first 10 minutes when Uruguayan striker Hernandez stole the ball on the halfway line and raced in on goal before slotting home a measured finish.

Hernandez doubled the home side's lead with a lovely curled finish into the top corner before Snodgrass scored his second goal in two games after being played in by Sam Clucas.

Clucas then set up Hernandez for an easy tap in for his first treble in English football.

Charlton's players offered to reimburse fans who made the midweek trip to Huddersfield and a dreadful week for the club was rounded off with goals from Diame and Hayden making it 6-0.

Hull are now four points clear of third-placed Derby while the Addicks, whose fans chanted "we are going down", are four points adrift of safety.

Hull City boss Steve Bruce:

"I've got a squad which is very good and playing for each other. We've got a long way to go but at the moment we're playing very well.

"Some of the goals we scored and some of the football we played meant Charlton found it very difficult against us.

"Every team has a bit of a dip. It's very unlikely that any team goes and storms the league. We've played very well of late so let's hope that continues. Our home form has been rock solid."

Charlton head coach Jose Riga:

"I've never been relegated in my life and I don't want to know what this feeling is like to be relegated.

"We need time to find the real problems and to work on it. We have to be better tactically, better technically and better in our will.

"The first thing is to push everybody, individually and collectively. They have to work on all aspects of the game.

"We need some help. We are in the transfer window and we need freshness to be able to face this big challenge."

Hull City went 4-0 up in the 39th minute