Hull City 3-0 Birmingham City: Kamil Grosicki on form as Hull thrash Blues
- Published
Tom Eaves got ahead of his marker to steer Hull in front just before half-time
Hull City gave some festive cheer to their fans with a thumping win against Birmingham City that puts them in the pack of Championship play-off chasers going into the Christmas period.
After a slow start, it looked as though the first half would finish level but Tom Eaves, back in the side following concussion, steered in a header in first-half stoppage time for the opener.
Kamil Grosicki added a second in the second period, latching on to a beauty of a through-ball from Jarrod Bowen and coolly lofting the ball over Connal Trueman.
Substitute Keane Lewis-Potter came on and added a late third to boost the Tigers' goal difference, and leave them just four points off the top six.
Birmingham have now lost three games in a row for the second time this season and are 15th in the table, nine points adrift of the top six.
However, such form was put into perspective by head coach Pep Clotet in his post-match press conference when he confirmed assistant Paco Herrera would not be returning to the club in the immediate future, as he spends time with his family on compassionate leave.
The home side - who are at home to Nottingham Forest next - already had a hoodoo over the Blues in East Yorkshire with five straight home wins, and extended that run to six to lie 11th.
They have also now recorded wins in five of the past nine, with the impressive Bowen again showing his value with a key assist for the Grosicki goal.
Clotet's Blues now have just one win from their last nine before their Boxing Day visit to Blackburn Rovers.
Hull boss Grant McCan told BBC Radio Humberside:
"It was nice to get that goal right on the stroke of half-time and that gave us a bit of belief.
"It was nice to see young Keane [Lewis-Potter] come on and do what he does best, we've seen that every day in training and it was nice for him to get that goal in front of the Hull fans.
"Defensively we did what we need to do more of this season. When we lost the ball we sprinted, we've worked a lot this week on recoveries and that's something the best teams have in this league, we're nearly there."
Birmingham City head coach Pep Clotet told BBC WM:
"I'm disappointed [with the] result, especially as we were on a good run away from home. Unfortunately we made a mistake giving them the corner and that goal before half-time made it very difficult for us.
"We go back tomorrow at the training ground and we'll get everyone's head right and bounce back.
"We all know we need to improve and we need to put it right. We were half a yard off everything, we didn't look comfortable in our game."