Luton achieved back-to-back home league wins for the first time since April 2023
Luton Town moved out of the Championship relegation zone with a narrow victory over Hull City, who replaced them in the bottom three.
Defender Mark McGuinness volleyed the ball in from a corner to score his maiden Hatters goal in a first half of very few chances.
Hull's Joao Pedro hit the post after the break, but the hosts held their nerve in a scrappy affair, to relieve some of the pressure on their boss Rob Edwards.
Luton moved up to 16th in the table - three points clear of the drop zone - while Hull sit 22nd and one point inside it after going eight games without a victory.
A cagey start saw a lack of opportunities for either side, with centre-back Teden Mengi heading straight at Hull goalkeeper Ivor Pandur from a free-kick.
The visitors began to dominate possession - enjoying more than 70% of it - but weren't able to fashion a shot on target.
Before they could do so, McGuinness struck the ball out of the reach of Pandur, after Shandon Baptiste's corner had been flicked on by a defender.
Hull looked frustrated in the second half as Pedro struck the post, Lewie Coyle fired over from range, and substitute Kasey Palmer had two shots parried away by Luton keeper Thomas Kaminski.
Ultimately, the home side held on to extend their run to six league games unbeaten against Hull at Kenilworth Road, keeping five clean sheets in the process.
The victory was a reassuring one for the club, after Edwards had spoken about regaining his focus following speculation about his future.
But the visitors' defeat was the first time that they have lost three games in a row since September 2022 - a worrying statistic for their boss Tim Walter - who this week insisted that he has the owner's backing.
Mark McGuinness' first goal for Luton followed winning his first cap for the Republic of Ireland last week
Luton 'fighting' for Edwards - Reaction
Luton Town boss Rob Edwards told BBC Three Counties Radio:
"It wasn't perfect - it didn't have to be - but it was important to show a reaction, show some resilience, some spirit, a bit of quality when we needed it.
"They are a really difficult team to play against. They are probably the most complex team in the way they play to press. It was difficult, it was challenging.
"If you think back a couple of years ago, when we got promoted, we had quite a few of those kinds of performances. People putting their bodies on the line. You have to do that to win football matches, it is not always going to be pretty.
"What is pleasing is that the lads are there fighting, with me and with us, and that is good because it has been quite a challenging couple of weeks, or a challenging quite a long period. But yeah, a nice feeling today."
Hull City boss Tim Walter told BBC Radio Humberside:
"Like every week - like the last seven weeks as well - we played well. We created a lot of chances.
"We also defended really good. But, set-pieces...they scored and the whole game they didn't have a chance to score without this.
"The boys showed again character, because if you run backwards in the 96th minute, that shows that the team is really sticking together and they are fighting for each other and they have a good togetherness. I can see it every day in the training sessions.
"We have to score to get better results, but sometimes it is like it is."
