Jarrod Bowen struck the only goal as Hull began the new decade with a 1-0 victory at Sheffield Wednesday and condemned the hosts to a third straight defeat.
Wednesday had the majority of chances to score but they failed to capitalise on them and Bowen’s second-half goal was enough to give Grant McCann’s men all three points as they made it eight wins out of their last 14 Championship outings.
Wednesday manager Garry Monk restored Julian Borner and Atdhe Nuhiu to the starting line-up while top scorer Steven Fletcher was named among the substitutes after recovering from injury.
The first effort of the match came from Wednesday’s Barry Bannan, who volleyed wide.
The hosts threatened again early on when Kadeem Harris’ ball into the area was met by Sam Winnall, who put his first-time effort over.
There was a great chance for Hull to score when Matthew Pennington connected with Kamil Grosicki’s corner at the far post but was unable to direct the ball on target.
Grosicki then put a free-kick on target but it was comfortably saved by Cameron Dawson.
Adam Reach wasted a good opening for the home side when he got on the end of a Harris low cross, failing to make a proper connection and firing wide.
Pennington then came to Hull’s rescue, clearing a shot from Harris off the line.
The Wednesday line-up showed a change in attack at the start of the second half with Fletcher taking over from Nuhiu.
And it was a move that nearly paid dividends as Fletcher was soon in the thick of the action, with his effort hitting the post after he got on the end of a Bannan corner.
Monk made another attacking change just before their hour-mark, sending on Jordan Rhodes in place of Winnall.
But Bowen struck after 61 minutes to put the visitors in front, drilling a hard, low shot past Dawson after a good ball in from George Honeyman.
Grosicki threatened to add a second shortly afterwards, firing over from inside the area.
Fletcher fired narrowly wide after winning a free-kick inside the ‘D’ and Rhodes put a near post header beyond the far post as Wednesday looked to draw level.
Murphy played a searching ball into the area in the closing stages of the match but it just evaded Fletcher who was at full stretch in the middle.
