Hull 4-2 Middlesbrough: Marco Silva's Tigers escape drop zone with vital win

Hull scored four past Middlesbrough on Wednesday night to lift themselves out of the relegation zone with a 4-2 win, as Boro moved closer to the drop.

Alvaro Negredo gave Middlesbrough a surprise advantage in the fifth minute, but goals from Lazar Markovic, Oumar Niasse and Abel Hernandez in the first half gave Hull a convincing lead.

Marten de Roon scored from an offside position to make the score 3-2 on the stroke of half-time, but defender Harry Maguire sealed the win for Hull in the second half.

Swansea lost 3-1 to Tottenham, meaning the Tigers are now two points clear of the drop in 17th. Meanwhile, Middlesbrough's position looks even more perilous as they remain 19th, seven points away from safety.

Marco Silva made one change to his Hull side that beat West Ham on Saturday, with Kamil Grosicki coming in for Curtis Davies.

Meanwhile, Boro boss Steve Agnew elected to start Rudy Gestede up front with Negredo. Daniel Ayala and James Husband replaced Bernardo and the injured Fabio in the backline.

Hull began the game on the front foot with a disallowed goal in the fourth minute. Markovic was played through on goal by Ahmed Elmohamady, but the former Liverpool forward decided to square the ball to Niasse, who tapped in but was half a yard offside.

Surprisingly, it was Boro who took the lead moments later. Negredo played an excellent lofted through ball to Traore on the right flank. He cut in and had a wayward shot, only for the Spaniard to slide in and tapped the ball in for his eighth goal of the season.

Hull would find a deserved equaliser in the 13th minute. A whipped in cross by Andrew Robertson was deflected into the path of Ben Gibson, who made a mess of his clearance, allowing Markovic to score his first goal for the club.

As the game became increasingly scrappy, Hull would go on to take the lead. Alfred N'Diaye flicked the ball over his head, and Hernandez flicked it on into the path of Niasse, who tucked his effort into the bottom-left corner.

Middlesbrough would come close to grabbing a consolation through Gestede, as his header was tipped over the bar by Eldin Jakupovic. Negredo then had an effort which he curled just wide of the left post.

On the stroke of half-time, Boro made it 3-2 through de Roon.

A Boro corner was met by Gibson, whose header was nodded on into the net by De Roon. He was standing around two yards offside, but the linesman overruled referee Michael Oliver to award the goal.

Hull began the second half on the front foot, with Victor Valdes called into action again to parry out a low shot from N'Diaye in the 59th minute.

But 10 minutes later, Hull took a 4-2 lead. Robertson played in a curled free-kick from the left flank for Maguire to reach at the back post. He directed his header into the far corner to kill off any chance of a Boro fightback.

With both teams clearly tiring in the second half, and the removal of Negredo in the 70th minute, Boro struggled to create any clear-cut chances as Hull did well to see the game out by keeping hold of the ball for long spells.

Player Ratings

Hull

Jakupovic (7), Robertson (7), Maguire (7), Ranocchia (7), N'Diaye (7), Clucas (7), Grosicki (8), Niasse (8), El Mohamady (7), Markovic (8), Hernandez (7).

Subs: Evandro (6), Dawson (6), Henriksen (5)

Middlesbrough

Valdes (6), Barragan (3), Ayala (5), Gibson (6), Husband (5), Traore (5), Clayton (5), de Roon (6), Downing (6), Negredo (7), Gestede (5)

Subs: Guedioura (5), Bamford (5), Stuani (6)

Man of the Match: Kamil Grosicki