Hull City 2-1 Cardiff City: Early goals decisive for Tigers

Cardiff City have now lost 21 of their last 28 Good Friday league matches

Hull City ended their run of six successive home defeats thanks to two early goals that proved enough to beat Cardiff City 2-1.

Hull made a dream start with two goals inside 11 minutes as Allahyar Sayyadmanesh was gifted an opener by a terrible Cardiff defensive mix-up.

Lewie Coyle fired home a second within minutes after a fine team move.

Cardiff improved after the break and Aden Flint headed home his sixth goal of the season to set up a tense finale.

The win was important for Hull, who ended their recent home travails.

Hull boss Shota Arveladze made one change to the side that shocked Middlesbrough in midweek with Coyle recalled at right wing-back as the hosts looked to avoid unwanted history.

It is home wins that Hull have been struggling for, having lost six successive Championship games on their ground, one shy of a club record, so the Tigers opted to wear their away kit, hoping it would spark a change in fortunes.

Cardiff boss Steve Morison is clearly already turning his attention to next season, with the Bluebirds boss making seven changes to the side that won 2-1 at Reading, with academy graduate Oliver Denham given a first Championship start.

Cardiff have made slow starts a key feature of their troublesome season and that continued at MKM Stadium as the hosts were gifted two early goals by some poor defending.

The Bluebirds might have led by then, but striker Uche Ikpeazu was denied by goalkeeper Matt Ingram who stood firm and saved when Ikpeazu raced clear after only two minutes.

Cardiff paid for their miss and then some, because they were 2-0 down within 10 minutes and very much the architects of their own downfall.

They gifted Hull an opener when Mark McGuinness' backpass left goalkeeper Dillon Phillips stranded as Iranian forward Sayyadmanesh was able to round him and pass the ball into the net.

Cardiff did not respond well to the setback as they conceded again two minutes later when McGuinness mis-hit an attempted clearance and Cody Drameh could not control the ball, allowing Regan Slater to find Coyle, who found the roof of the net with a fine finish.

The Bluebirds almost reduced the arrears on 15 minutes, but Ingram saved brilliantly to deny Ikpeazu's overhead kick.

Ikpeazu - who was booked for a rash challenge - and McGuinness were taken off at half-time with Tommy Doyle and Rubin Colwill replacing them, but it was the Tigers who almost scored just after the restart, Phillips producing a superb save to deny Keane Lewis-Potter after Slater's fine cross.

The two subs did make an impact for Cardiff with Doyle firing just over and Isaak Davies seeing his deflected shot squirm wide, with Hull firmly on the back foot and looking to protect what they had.

Cardiff continued to push and Mark Harris cut inside and saw his shot well saved by Ingram, who dived low to turn the ball behind, before Davies was mere inches from converting Joel Bagan's teasing cross.

Colwill was Cardiff's most likely source of a goal and his smart play allowed Harris and Doyle to combine, but Doyle's shot was just wide of the post.

Eventually the Cardiff pressure told when Flint headed home Doyle's fine cross, with the hosts sinking deeper and deeper in protection of their lead.

Cardiff almost did as Hull had done - namely scoring twice within two minutes - but Harris lobbed wide after Ingram got himself into a mess following Phillips' route-one clearance.

The win sees Hull rise to 19th in the Championship, two points and two places below Cardiff.

Hull City boss Shota Arveladze said:

"Now we can say definitely (Hull are staying up), it's good.

"It's lovely and it's good for the coach and the players - it was great for us and them.

"The first half was absolutely good. In the second half we gave the ball away a little bit but we have to give credit to Cardiff for changing the system.

"Sometimes mistakes cost you games, but this time we took our chances and the mistake we made didn't cost us the game."

Cardiff City boss Steve Morison said:

"Did we deserve anything out of it? On balance of chances, yes, and overall control and dominance in the second half.

"But it doesn't matter, we lost the game. I'm not going to fluff it up.

"It was shambolic stuff first half, well, the first 10 minutes.

"But I was really pleased with the second half. It shows you can dominate teams, I was just gutted we didn't quite get another goal."