Ruben Selles wants Hull to ‘push forward’ after ending 13-match winless run

New head coach Ruben Selles challenged his players to “push forward” after Hull ended a 13-match winless run with a 2-1 victory at home to Swansea.

Bottom of the Sky Bet Championship at the start of the day, substitute Mason Burstow brought much-needed relief to home fans with a fine winner after 80 minutes.

Selles said: “I think we played a really good game. We were clear in what we wanted, and we minimised our opponents.

“The only problem we had was when we conceded and lost control of the game.

“When we were 2-1 you saw a team that kept doing what they knew they were doing.

“They did not retreat and when you retreat you will concede goals.

“I think it was a powerful feeling at full-time.

“The club, the fans, the players and the staff have been looking for this feeling for long enough.”

Hull, who had won just three previous home games in the calendar year, were worthy victors against a strangely passive Swansea side.

The hosts opened the scoring through a combination of wretched defending and Joao Pedro’s deflected strike after 34 minutes.

From a position of relative authority, Selles’ men then gifted Swansea an equaliser when unmarked Harry Darling headed home eight minutes later.

But despite having struck the woodwork in the second half, when Ben Cabango headed onto the base of the right post, the visitors could not match Hull’s intensity after the restart.

And they were deservedly punished when Burstow, who was given an inexplicable amount of time to choose his spot, screwed a shot from outside the box into the bottom-right corner late in the game.

Selles said: “We created situations to score goals and that has been a big question mark about this team. And now it is about building from that platform.

“The victory is important but, for me, the most important thing is the performance. Now we need to push forward and, from this, become a better team.

“Swansea are a good side in possession, but we were clear in the triggers we needed to use for this game.

“I’ve just arrived here but it’s important to see a team that I can recognise and to see a team doing the things I want to do.

“That’s a good feeling.”

When asked about how he will celebrate Christmas Day, Selles said: “I will be completely alone.

“My family is in Spain, and they will hopefully join me over Christmas. They will enjoy their time in Spain, but I want to prepare for the next game.

“I would prefer if my family is here, but it is what it is. This is my life.”

Counterpart Luke Williams accepted his side deserved to leave East Yorkshire empty-handed.

He said: “I thought it was a dreadful performance and a result that matched it for us.

“I couldn’t tell you why we played like this, but we were certainly very, very poor.

“In fairness, I didn’t even celebrate our goal as, from a performance point of view, it was not good enough.

“I was hoping there would be a reaction (from the Sunderland game), but I don’t think we’re in that place as a group just yet.”

Williams added: “They were better than us. We played well against Sunderland for 45 minutes and then we were dreadful.

“I was disappointed, but I wasn’t expecting that.

“I didn’t think either side played particularly well, but I wasn’t expecting that – it was very, very disappointing.”