Hull City 0-1 Blackburn: Rovers back up to second after victory seals fourth win in a row

Blackburn Rovers moved back into second place in the Championship after a dominant display against Hull City secured their fourth win in a row.

Senior captain Ben Brereton Diaz and Sam Gallagher were denied further goals after the break by smart stops from Nathan Baxter.

Hull did not threaten to repeat their win over Rovers in last season’s friendly fixture in January – after owner Acun Ilicali completed his takeover – failing to produce an effort on target all afternoon as Jacob Greaves and Dimitrios Pelkas missed out with the free title.

Rovers’ 11th win of the season takes them back to second place, three points clear of Queens Park Rangers, and two points behind leaders Burnley.

In-form Rovers started brightly with Szmodics – back in the team after missing last Saturday’s win over Birmingham – who showed their confidence in possession and finished a sweet move to put the visitors ahead.

Receiving a perfectly sized pass from Adam Wharton past the Hull defence, Szmodics found the bottom left corner of the net with a right-footed effort for his fourth goal of the season.

The Tigers were chasing a third straight win and back-to-back league wins over Blackburn for the first time since 1970, but posed an occasional threat in the first half with Thomas Kaminski pawing away Ryan Longman’s first-time cross and Greaves curling an effort wide at their best moments. .

They were lucky not to go behind after half-time when Baxter fired over Brereton Diaz from 12 yards following some poor defending.

Interim manager Andy Dawson made a double substitution at the break in a bid to expose Hull’s vulnerability and looked to be having an impact, only for Greaves from a corner and a diving Pelkas to miss good chances with the title on the way.

Baxter then had to be at his best to stop Rovers extending their lead – heading home Brereton Diaz’s effort from 12 yards before denying Gallagher in a one-on-one after being spotted by the Chile forward.

Hull enjoyed more possession as the game wore on but suffered their first defeat in three games after finding Rovers in a mood to let their narrow advantage slip away.

Hull season manager Andy Dawson told BBC Radio Humberside:

“I was disappointed with the first half – we gave them too much, we definitely weren’t aggressive enough.

“I think the one thing we’ve been surprised about recently is keeping the ball and I think we turned it over cheaply. That’s the last thing you want to do against a possession-based team.

“We had a really good second half and we created a couple of good chances but they were small margins – we came up against a really good team today.”

Blackburn Rovers head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson told BBC Radio Lancashire:

“I think it’s well deserved – great credit to the players.

“We had the right tactics in the first half, controlled the game and scored a great goal – we should have scored more and closed the game before half time.

“It was a great win and a good performance.”