Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Cardiff City and Hull City at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday | Liverpool loanee Fabio Carvalho scores twice as Liam Rosenior's Tigers return to winning ways in South Wales
Saturday 6 April 2024 18:24, UK
Fabio Carvalho scored twice as Hull returned to winning ways with a comfortable 3-1 success at Cardiff in the Sky Bet Championship.
The Tigers had gone six games without a win but two goals from Carvalho put them in control in the Welsh capital.
Cardiff briefly got themselves back into contention through Karlan Grant only to see their former striker Jaden Philogene grab a third for Hull just two minutes later and settle the result.
Victory saw Hull climb one place to ninth while Cardiff's already faint play-off hopes are now effectively over with just one win from their last four.
These teams were separated before kick-off by just one position and two points in the league table but the difference on the pitch was considerable.
Hull had influential captain Jacob Greaves back in the heart of defence following a two-match suspension and his comeback inspired a return to form.
Cardiff had some success on the left but, as so often this season, lacked a cutting edge.
Jamilu Collins shot straight at former Cardiff keeper Ryan Allsop, Grant's work needed a stronger touch by Joe Ralls while Josh Bowler's burst went unfinished.
Hull were far from faultless but looked far sharper in attack with Abdulkadir Omur twice forcing saves from Ethan Horvath.
It was a corner from the second of those efforts that brought the opener when Carvalho pounced on a lax clearance to volley home on 32 minutes.
The striker barely broke his stride with the shot that went through a crowd and left the unsighted Horvath rooted to the spot.
It was a similar story 12 minutes later when Carvalho was played through on goal by a crisp Hull attack.
Three passes cut Cardiff apart as Omur and Ozan Tufan combined to tee up Carvalho for his second just before half-time.
Cardiff pressed for a way back at the start of the second half but top-scorer Perry Ng headed straight at Allsop before Grant's solo effort.
Little appeared on when the forward gathered the ball on the edge of the box, only to turn inside Regan Slater and squeeze his shot inside Allsop's near post.
Erol Bulut immediately threw on Aaron Ramsey and Manchester City loanee Josh Wilson-Esbrand for a second but also distracted his defender Nathaniel Phillips with instructions that gifted Hull a third.
Former Bluebird Philogene pounced on the lapse in concentration, sprinting through before smashing home past the helpless Horvath.
Omur went close to a fourth when he hit the post with a curling effort and Philogene should have doubled his tally in stoppage time but blazed over the bar when clean through on goal.
Cardiff's Erol Bulut:
"We wasted the first half. This is not how we trained. When you don't press well and the opponent is a good passing team, they can come out of this pressure.
"From the corner they scored the first goal, which can happen, but how we conceded the second goal was not good. We were too far away from the opponent, not aggressive enough.
"The second half was much better. We came back with the goal but then there was a misunderstanding between (Joe) Ralls and Nat (Phillips) while I was speaking to Nat and they scored."
Hull's Liam Rosenior:
"At this stage of the season this is a massive win. The pressure was on after recent results and we've been written off by some but we dominated this game.
"It was a really professional performance with the way we managed the game and took our goals but what was really pleasing was the way the players responded to them scoring.
"The goal came out of the blue but the effort, spirit and quality the players showed was excellent.
"We could have probably scored more. The pleasing thing is that we're always creating chances but I told the players at half-time that we've been in that position before and this time we needed to see it out.
"I felt that we were coming into a good period after the performance at Leeds and we did that against a good side that just won at Coventry and were a big and physical team. When the teams came out onto the pitch it looked like lads against dads but our players have big hearts and work for each other.
"We've got a game in hand and if we win that then we're only three points off the play-offs and there nothing in it. There are going to be plenty of twists and turns along the way because this league is so tough but we're still in there."
