Cardiff City 1-3 Hull City: Fabio Carvalho double helps end Hull's winless run

Fabio Carvalho (centre) has scored six goals in his past eight games for Hull

Fabio Carvalho scored twice as Hull City beat Cardiff City to earn a first win in seven games and keep alive their slim hopes of making the Championship play-offs.

Liverpool loanee Carvalho put the visitors in front with a sweetly-struck volley, before playing a one-two with Ozan Tufan and finishing neatly to double their lead shortly before half-time.

Karlan Grant pulled a goal back for Cardiff with a low finish after the break, only for former Bluebirds winger Jaden Philogene to break clear and swiftly restore Hull's two-goal advantage.

Victory lifted Hull up to ninth in the Championship table, six points behind sixth-placed Norwich City with a game in hand.

Liam Rosenior's men might still be viewed as outsiders for the play-offs but ending their six-game winless run at least kept them in contention.

It was important they won in south Wales as Norwich's win over Ipswich Town earlier on Saturday had opened up a nine-point gap between the Canaries and Hull.

As for Cardiff, this defeat effectively ended any lingering fanciful ideas they might have had of sneaking into the top six.

While neither promotion nor relegation are realistic prospects for the Bluebirds, there is still plenty at stake for their manager Erol Bulut, whose contract expires at the end of this season. He has stated he is keen to stay, but has yet to start talks about a new deal.

Cardiff started the match in a manner which suggested they were keen to make an impression, with left-back Jamilu Collins forcing former Cardiff goalkeeper Ryan Allsop into a save.

Ethan Horvath was called into action twice in quick succession at the other end as he palmed away one shot from Abdulkadir Omur, before tipping another from the Turkish midfielder on to the post.

From the subsequent 32nd-minute corner, Cardiff failed to clear, Carvalho ran on to the ball and, without breaking stride, hit a low left-footed volley which took a deflection on its way into the net.

The 21-year-old Liverpool loanee scored his and Hull's second 12 minutes later with almost embarrassing ease, exchanging passes with Tufan before strolling into the home side's penalty area and finishing calmly.

There were grumbles from the stands as Cardiff trudged off at half-time, but Grant gave cause for optimism in the 57th minute as he cut in from the left and squeezed a right-footed shot past Allsop at his near post.

Within two minutes, however, Hull had struck again.

Once again, Cardiff's defence was all too obliging as Philogene was allowed far too much time and space to scamper clear of his opponents and slot beyond Horvath.

Omur was close to adding a fourth with a curling shot which hit the post, while Philogene shot wastefully over when clean through in added time.

By that point, several Cardiff fans had left having endured another lifeless home performance from their team.

Hull's supporters, by contrast, could celebrate a well-deserved victory.

Cardiff manager Erol Bulut:

"We wasted the first half. This is not how we trained. When you don't press well and the opponent is a good passing team, they can come out of this pressure.

"From the corner they scored the first goal, which can happen, but how we conceded the second goal was not good. We were too far away from the opponent, not aggressive enough.

"The second half was much better. We came back with the goal but then there was a misunderstanding between Rallsy (Joe Ralls) and Nat [Phillips]. I was speaking to Nat and Rallsy played the ball already. This happened, we cannot change it.

"You can lose but you have to at least fight, not like the first half."

Hull manager Liam Rosenior:

"It was a really professional performance. We scored some really good goals and controlled the game.

"What was pleasing was the response to them scoring a goal, which came out of the blue. The response from the players, their spirit and the quality was really pleasing.

"Bearing in mind this was a [Cardiff] team that went to Coventry and won, we showed a real level we have to keep to and go beyond if we want to get to where we want to be.

"We're there [in play-off contention]. There are going to be plenty of twists and turns. I've seen this story before in the Championship. Every game is difficult."