Hull City 1-2 Southampton: Ryan Fraser's last-gasp winner sees Saints climb to fifth in the Championship

Substitute Ryan Fraser's dramatic late goal earned Southampton a 2-1 Sky Bet Championship win at Hull.

The home side looked up against it in the 20th minute when Will Smallbone opened the scoring for the visitors, who are finally clicking into gear under Russell Martin.

But Hull had been the better side until Smallbone scored and deservedly equalised five minutes later through Liam Delap.

However, the full-time result did not properly reflect the game as both sides had countless half-chances in a match which lurched from both penalty areas with almost careless abandon.

• Championship fixtures | table | highlights
• Stream the Championship and more with NOW
• Get Sky Sports | Download the Sky Sports App

Hull head coach Liam Rosenior will be frustrated by the result - they have now won just once in seven - as late Southampton pressure allowed Fraser the chance to sweep home with virtually the last kick of the game.

Neither Rosenior nor Martin would have appreciated the open nature to the contest - but it unquestionably made for an entertaining match.

That was evidenced after 11 minutes when former Southampton defender Alfie Jones carelessly gave away possession on the right.

Stuart Armstrong squared to Smallbone, whose speculative hit from distance was deflected and well saved by Ryan Allsop.

Allsop could, however, do nothing about the opening goal three minutes later.

Kyle Walker-Peters too easily won his duel with Jaden Philogene before cutting back to an umarked Smallbone, who guided the ball into the bottom left corner of the net.

But Hull were far from done, most notably on the flanks, and equalised soon afterwards.

Southampton looked well positioned to snuff out the danger, yet an onrushing Scott Twine caught the visitors' defence flat-footed with a whipped cross from the right.

Philogene's initial effort deflected kindly to Delap, who powered home from a central area inside the six-yard box.

Saints fans might have expected a response but, if anything, Hull were the superior team before the break.

The hosts also flew out of the traps after the interval, with Philogene and Tyler Morton somehow denied by relentless last-ditch defending during a madcap counter-attack.

Southampton remained firmly in the game, though, and nearly punished Hull's deep-lying back-four when Stuart Armstrong flashed inches wide of the target from long range.

Adam Armstrong later teed up Carlos Alcaraz, whose instinctive hit required a strong right hand from Allsop.

Delap might also have done better a few minutes later, but the Manchester City loan signing ran out of fuel, and ideas, in a one-on-one situation - albeit from a tricky angle - with Gavin Bazunu.

By contrast to what came before, the final half-hour was played out at a relatively sedate tempo.

Saints, now unbeaten in four, finished the stronger, with the influential Smallbone again thwarted by Allsop late in the piece.

But with the game meandering towards a draw, Fraser - an 84th-minute replacement for Stuart Armstrong - chose an opportune moment to open his account for Southampton.

Flynn Downes did all the hard work with an excellent low cross from the right, but the Newcastle loan signing still had the presence of mind to flight the ball out of Allsop's reach with a perfect finish.

The managers

Hull's Liam Rosenior:

"The manner of conceding a goal in the last minute is probably the most horrible way to lose a game. We need to eradicate that. For all our great play, you have to keep the back door shot. It became a game of who finishes their chances? We are going to be more open this season but hopefully through the season, the subs will give us the goals we will need. The exciting thing is that this group has got a lot of improvement. I'm very happy with the positive signs, but we have to stop throwing away points.

"We have to learn on the job, get more experience and make sure we don't make the same mistake twice. It hurts at the moment, but I'm delighted we've got a game on Wednesday to get this out of our system. Some of our football has been excellent, but it needs to be excellent with points. I feel terrible about this result, but maybe we need to feel that pain. I love this group - if you see in the dressing room they are devastated - but the second goal was unacceptable from my point of view and we need to put that right. We are two points out of the play-offs - it's nothing. I was delighted with the energy, but we have to start taking advantage of the moments in games."

Southampton's Russell Martin:

"Away from home against a team who are playing well - they're in a good place, this club - I'm delighted. We didn't get a few details quite right (in the first half) but we caused them plenty of problems. It was a really good game - two teams going at it - and we tweaked a few things (after the break). But that wouldn't have mattered if the mentality of the players wasn't right, which it was.

"I thought we were outstanding in the second half. Hull grew tired and it was just relentless. When you're attacking that much there's going to be gaps and our players dealt with that brilliantly. I thought we were worthy winners. We were maybe too safe in the first half, but in the second half we were brilliant. This team is growing together, which is great to see."