Mohamed-Ali Cho pulled one back for the Tigers in the 66th minute and Hull dominated what followed, but Newcastle United survived a nervy finish to answer their 4-1 defeat at Leeds while missing nine players. It was Hull’s first Premier League defeat of the season, after eight points from their opening games.
Manager Matthias Jaissle had asked for a reaction, and Chronicle Live reports that he was pleased with what he saw.
“As I said, we wanted to show the right reaction after Leeds and this is something we are very proud of - and we could deliver when it is needed. We wanted to also show a clear reaction in front of ours. Overall, when you see the 90 minutes, it was a deserved win.”
Jaissle admitted his players tired late on, and the injury list grew when Tino Livramento pulled out of the England squad after discomfort following training.
“He suffered discomfort after training. He will have an MRI scan but that’s all from my side,” Jaissle said.
“We were totally dominant and then in the second half you saw the legs were getting tired towards the end - but we were also missing nine players today.
“I am really proud and I want to show them respect for what they did at the end of the game when it was tough. To defend their own box, everyone was committed and really fighting for the three points. This is something we can count on.”
Hull City manager Sergej Jakirović was pleased with the second-half response, but conceded that the damage was done early, with both Newcastle goals arriving in the first seven minutes.
“We showed lots of character in the second half and I was very proud with the team for that,” he said. “But of course I know that we lost this game in the first ten minutes and we made some mistakes. They exposed the spaces that we left and they had the quality to do that of course.
“It is not easy when 2-0 down and it could have been more but Tzolakis saved the penalty just before half time. We said to the boys at half time that the game was still open, especially if we could score in the first 20 or 25 minutes and we did that. We had a lot of attempts at goal but unfortunately the equaliser didn’t come.”
Hull host Everton on 11 October after the international break.