Oumar Niasse turned out to be Hull City’s hero as the on-loan striker emerged off the bench to score two goals in a precious 2-1 victory over relegation rivals Swansea City.
Introduced as a 63rd minute substitute, Niasse lit up what had been a dour contest till then, with a devastating late impact. Six minutes after coming on, he latched on to Abel Hernandez’s flick to put the Tigers in the lead, before adding a second with another clinical finish from Ahmed Elmohamady’s right-wing cross.
Defender Alfie Mawson grabbed a consolation for the Swans inside stoppage time but Marco Silva’s men hung on for three more enormous points at the KCOM Stadium.
In what was a potentially six-pointer tie for the two teams, Hull City managed to come out trumps and as a result moved one place higher into the eighteenth position and are one point below the relegation zone. Let’s see who was the stand-out player for Hull on an important day:
Hull City Player Ratings
Eldin Jakupovic – 7/10
Made a string of impressive saves throughout the encounter to keep Swansea at bay, with two stops to deny Gylfi Sigurdsson in either halves standing out.
Omar Elabdellaoui – 6/10
Manged to get forward and get in a few crosses into the box. Had his hands full dealing with Sigurdsson and the charging Martin Olsson, but did well for most parts of the game.
Andrea Ranocchia – 7/10
Solid at the back, the Italian dealt comfortably with whatever came his way. Distributed well from the back as well.
Harry Maguire – 8/10
Absolutely majestic in the air. The 23-year old won all but one of his seven aerial duels and was strong in tackles as well. Maguire is growing in stature with every appearance.
Andrew Robertson – 7/10
Found himself with acres on space on the left-flank and got forward regularly throughout the game. Sent in some very dangerous crosses. Impressive outing for the full-back.
Alfred N’Diaye – 6/10
Booked for a scuffle with Olsson on the stroke of half-time. Gave away some cheap fouls and was dispossessed on a few occasions. Rightly taken off for Niasse.
Tom Huddlestone – 7/10
Forced a good save from Lukasz Fabianski in the Swansea goal. Booked not very long after, for a poor sliding challenge on Jack Cork. Pretty much dominated the middle areas of the pitch.
Sam Clucas – 6/10
Won all his tackles, came close to opening the scoring for Hull in the first-half, but headed just over. An energetic performance in the midfield.
Lazar Markovic – 6/10
Struggled to get involved in the match for most of the first-half. Found it hard to get past his man and lost the ball on a few occasions. Booked for a lunge on Olsson. Replaced in the second-period. Ineffective display by the Liverpool loanee.
Abel Hernandez – 6/10
Isolated for most parts of the game. Found his mojo, post a switch of tactics after the hour mark. Struck up a good partnership with Niasse, setting up the opener.
Kamil Grosicki – 6/10
Caused plenty of problems to Jordi Amat down the left-hand side. But the end product was missing on most occasions.
Substitutes
Oumar Niasse – 8/10
What an impact the loanee made! Came on for N’Diaye in the second half and opened the scoring with a lovely shot under Fabianski, before firing in a thumping strike to make it 2-0 for Hull. Turned the game on its head.
Ahmed El Mohamady – 6/10
The Egyptian came on for Markovic with fifteen minutes left on the clock. Set up the second goal within minutes of taking the pitch, with a cross from the right side.
David Meyler – NA
Replaced Abel Hernandez in the 81st minute as Marco Silva looked to shut shop. Not enough time to make any impact.