Liam Rosenior understood the significance of Hull City’s convincing 3-1 victory over Cardiff City, which snapped a six-match losing streak thanks to goals from Jaden Philogene and Fabio Carvalho.
Ahead of vital home matches against Middlesbrough and QPR the following week, Rosenior not only needed three points to keep City’s season alive, but he also called for his team to demonstrate more potency in the final third. And that’s exactly what he got in a 10th away victory of the campaign.
After Carvalho struck twice in a commanding first half, Karlan Grant replied shortly before the hour to give the Bluebirds hope, but two minutes later, Jaden Philogene surged up the other end to restore the two-goal lead and snap his goalless streak.
“It was fantastic,” a jubilant Rosenior said to Hull Live in South Wales. “I thought that was a pretty professional performance. We played a consistent style of play, scoring some really nice goals and maintaining control of the game.
“What was pleasing was the response to them scoring a goal which came out of the blue, but the response of the players the effort and the spirit and the quality of the players, I was really pleased with today.”
However, the margin of victory could have been higher for a post that denied the brilliant Abdush Omur and Jaden Philogene a beautiful chance in stoppage time.
Rosenior said, “Yes, we could have done (scored more goals).” “I told the guys at halftime that we’ve been in this scenario before and we have to see it through, so it’s incredibly satisfying because we have generated chances throughout the season and we have had moments.
“I sensed that there was a need. We showed a really, really excellent side to our game tonight, and remember, this is a team who went to Coventry and won (on Monday). The return of Jacob Greaves, who I thought was fantastic—he didn’t put a foot wrong—and Alfie Jones.
“Today, we demonstrated a genuine standard that we must uphold and even surpass in order to reach our desired goals. In light of our away performance against Leeds, I thought we were going to start well.
“I thought the team’s performance was excellent. We had three weeks off prior to the Stoke game, which I believe also contributed to our lack of urgency and sharpness in the game.
“We’re in a better place now and we’re going to need to be because Middlesbrough (on Wednesday) are a very, very good team and we need to go at them at home and take the game to them and come out with three points.”
With six games remaining, City still has a match against seventh-place Coventry, who defeated Leeds United, to close the gap to six points that separates them from the top six after Norwich’s victory over Ipswich.
He said, “We’re there,” referring to the play-off competition. There will be a lot of turns and twists. This tale is not new to me; I saw it in the Championship, in particular. As you can see from the results, there isn’t an easy game in this league; every game is extremely tough.
“We must put our own needs first. At this point in the season, it doesn’t matter if you win the game you have left to play and are within three points; that is what we need to concentrate on.”
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