Hull City vs Bolton Wanderers. Sky Bet Championship.
MKM StadiumAttendance12,418.
Report and highlights as Tigers claim fifth straight win
Tuesday 1 January 2019 20:40, UK
Hull's winning run stretched to five games with a 6-0 victory at home to struggling Bolton.
The result was thanks largely to a virtuoso display from Kamil Grosicki, who scored twice and also teed up Evandro for Hull's second goal of the game.
Chris Martin, Jarrod Bowen and substitute Nouha Dicko then put the gloss on an comprehensive Hull victory.
Bolton offered resistance in the first half but faded awfully after the interval and remain deep in relegation trouble, third from bottom.
Wanderers boss Phil Parkinson might still reflect upon what might have been had Clayton Donaldson's overhead kick not spooned just wide early on.
Hull eventually hit their stride after 21 minutes with neat interplay between Grosicki and Martin on the edge of Bolton's penalty area.
Bowen was the recipient of that stylish move but his low drive was comfortably handled by goalkeeper Ben Alnwick.
Suitably inspired, Hull came even closer when Grosicki's deep corner was met with an intelligent downwards header by Jordy de Wijs.
De Wijs found Martin in a dangerous position, but his swivelled strike was deflected wide for a corner.
The home supporters sensed a shift in momentum which resulted in the opening goal once Bowen charged into a promising position down the right.
Bowen passed to Grosicki, who found a pocket of space through a sea of bodies to smack the ball into the corner of the net at Alnwick's near post.
Bolton were rattled and could have gone under in the first half if Hull had chosen to kick on.
But Hull emphatically regained the ascendancy after the restart and came within inches of scoring a second when Grosicki's free-kick from 22 yards skimmed over the crossbar.
Grosicki soon made an even greater contribution after 62 minutes with a precise square ball to Evandro, who caressed the ball home from eight yards.
The hosts extended their advantage 60 seconds later when Grosicki was given too much time and space to curl a beauty from 25 yards.
With the game essentially over, Hull looked like scoring with every move and their fourth goal duly arrived when Martin kept his cool with a sweeping low hit from 12 yards.
Martin should have scored again when he struck the crossbar from a seemingly unmissable position, after more good work from Grosicki.
Hull made it 5-0 with 14 minutes remaining when Bowen's crisp left-footed shot found the left corner, while Dicko completed the rout with an easy 86th-minute header.
Hull assistant head coach Andy Crosby: "If anyone's talking about the play-offs they'd probably have the manager all over them.
"Who knows what the future holds. We didn't get too down when we were down at the bottom of the table. Slowly but surely, things have turned. We've got to keep pushing.
"We've got good players who are playing with belief, but we've got to keep taking things one game at a time. It's important we keep developing."
Bolton manager Phil Parkinson: "We haven't really been turned over like that (this season), and I've got to take responsibility for that as I opened the team up at half-time.
"We made some strange decisions at 3-0 and 4-0 down but they were very clinical when the chances came - and that was the difference.
"We looked like a team that ran out of legs."
