ANASS ZAROURY bagged his first goal for Hull as the Tigers stunned Southampton 2-1 for a fourth straight away win in the Sky Bet Championship amid a night to forget for Ireland international Gavin Bazunu.
Burnley loanee Zaroury tapped in before Fabio Carvalho, borrowed from Liverpool, thrashed in Hull’s second to lift them into the play-off places.
Joe Aribo pulled one back for Saints but it was their first home defeat in 12 matches, with their automatic promotion push derailed by back-to-back Tuesday defeats as they slipped down to fourth in the table.
Southampton’s first half peaked in the eighth minute when Joe Rothwell was denied by Ryan Allsop when through one-on-one.
From then on Hull tore the hosts apart with attacking flair, although Saints also brought about their own downfall with some loose passing in midfield and defence.
The Tigers broke the deadlock in the 11th minute when a long ball from Allsop caught Saints off guard. Ryan Giles carried before the ball found its way to Jaden Philogene. The winger’s powerful shot was parried by Bazunu into the path of Zaroury, who tapped in his first goal in five days short of a year.
Philogene had an effort battered away at the near post and Abdulkadir Omur stabbed wide after Carvalho had scampered down the left as the visitors looked to double their advantage.
Southampton did not learn from Bazunu’s poor pass to Rothwell which allowed Jean Michael Seri to shoot, as 35 seconds later they were two down after Rothwell had stumbled on the ball on the edge of his own area. Philogene plucked the ball off him before allowing Carvalho to sweetly score past Bazunu.
Having not shipped two goals in a match since October, the Saints have conceded a double in three of their last four games.
The Tigers tore the disorientated hosts apart in the last 10 minutes of the half. Zaroury lobbed Bazunu but the ball bounced wide, and then the Moroccan swung a shot just wide.
A clearly irate Russell Martin swung the axe on Rothwell, Sekou Mara and Adam Armstrong at half-time — which had been greeted by boos from the home support.
The fresh legs of David Brooks, Che Adams and Joe Aribo saw a slight uptick in performance as Will Smallbone sliced wide following a good move before fellow Irish international Ryan Manning aimed for the bottom corner but missed.
Brooks lifted an effort onto the roof of the net but they had to wait until the 88th minute to have a goalscoring chance in the second half. Aribo took it, the Nigeria international squirting in after being teed up by Adams, but it did not prevent a first home loss since 19 September.
Elsewhere, Ireland’s Mikey Johnston was on target with his second goal in three games to continue his excellent start to life in the Championship after recently joining on loan from Celtic, as West Brom strengthened their hold on fifth place as they bounced back with a comfortable 3-0 victory at Plymouth.
The Baggies suffered defeat at promotion contenders Southampton on Friday but came out fighting on Tuesday night, with all three goals coming in the final 30 minutes from Cedric Kipre, substitute Johnston and Tom Fellows.
Johnston fired the away side 2-0 ahead with a brilliant solo effort after 76 minutes.
Johnston cut in from the left, into the box, and beat his marker Matthew Sorinola before thrashing a rising shot past Hazard and into the far corner.
In League One, Ireland U21 international Tony Springett’s stoppage-time goal rescued a point in Northampton Town’s 2-2 draw with Oxford United.
Ex-Drogheda player Will Hondermarck, a former Ireland U21 call-up who has since been capped by Congo, was also on target for the visitors.
In League Two, James McClean opened the scoring but Wrexham had to settle for a point against promotion rivals MK Dons.
Elsewhere, Ross Tierney and Emmanuel Adegboyega were both on target as Walsall beat Morecambe 3-0.
Additional reporting by Paul Fennessy
