Hull head coach Liam Rosenior hailed the impact of his substitutes that helped earn a 2-1 win at Middlesbrough.
With Boro leading on the hour courtesy of Emmanuel Latte Lath’s seventh goal of the season in the sixth minute, Rosenior made changes at the Riverside Stadium.
The triple introduction of Ruben Vinagre, Adama Traore and Ozan Tufan was followed by Liam Delap’s equaliser with 21 minutes remaining.
And after Greg Docherty and Sean McLoughlin were introduced from the bench in the seven minutes that followed, the stage was set for the visitors’ winner.
Vinagre’s run and cross led to Docherty passing into the path of Tufan to fire in his side’s second in the 82nd minute to lift Hull level on points with sixth-placed Sunderland in the Championship table.
Rosenior, who revealed winger Jaden Philogene will be sidelined for six weeks with a knee injury, said: “It certainly feels better now than it felt at half-time. I have spoken to the players a lot, and this was the first time in the year we had lost two in a row.
“And it was always going to be difficult to come back from a goal down against a very good team. I said at half-time it was about character and resilience. We showed how much it meant to us. This was a huge step for us tonight.
“That was probably the worst first half we have played in a long time. I have got a young team, an exciting team, a team that doesn’t have much experience of the Championship.
“The subs made a massive difference. Tufan was outstanding, Vinagre, Docherty, McLoughlin, Adama, every single sub had a positive impact on the game and that is a good sign.
“That is the lesson for this group, when every player’s engaged, from 1-20, and I changed system four times in the game, then it is down to the players and they showed that when things are up against us we have the spirit and determination.”
This was Middlesbrough’s third successive defeat, and their fourth in five. Having taken the lead through Latte Lath, and looked in control throughout the first half, there was clearly frustration.
Boro head coach Michael Carrick said: “I thought we played ever so well. Against a good team, we gave them next to nothing, played some really good football, looked dangerous and had so many opportunities.
“Bitterly disappointed. I’d have been bitterly disappointed with a draw after that to be honest with all the good things that I saw in the game. It’s one of them things.
“It’s the way it’s gone. We need to be that bit more ruthless but I thought we gave them hardly anything in the game. We didn’t let them have much. I thought the second goal would come but we just didn’t quite have that quality with our last pass or finish to make it count.
“I thought there was a spark tonight. I don’t think we need a spark. I thought the performance was there, so in terms of a spark, no. I thought the boys did a lot of good things and we’ll take a lot of confidence from it.”
