Even before watching their side turn in a terrific performance to blow Rotherham United away with a 4-2 away win, the 2,274 were firmly in the corner of their former defender, singing his name before, during and after the match.

Jacob Greaves, Cyrus Christie, Ryan Longman and Ozan Tufan all scored goals and still had to play second fiddle in the popularity stakes.

It has been an excellent week for Dawson and his team. Because he has found a team from the rag-tag of players he has been served up.

It was threatening to be one for Rotherham too, but three games in a week, never mind three wins, just looked too much for them.

Dawson has been rewarded for his bravery. Owner/chairman Acun Ilicali has supplied him with a selection of players he is fond of having seen many of them in his native Turkish Super Lig and his caretaker coach has been courageous enough not to use most of them.

For the second game running, the Championship's top-scorer, Oscar Estupinan, sat alongside Turkish internationals Tufan and Dogukan Sinik. All are gifted technical players.

But Dawson preferred the earthier talents of players like Ryan Longman, Greg Docherty and Regan Slater. All three and others besides showed that just because they work hard does not mean you do not have any skill.

The response from Estupinan and Tufan in particular when they came off the bench suggests the pretty obvious message was not lost in translation.

Hard work was all Rotherham could offer in response. They should probably be grateful the margin of victory was not more punishing.

Considering Hull played much the more fluid and inventive football in the first half, it was ironic their goal was very scrappy, Rotherham's almost instant response inspired.

Unsurprisingly, Dawson kept the brave XI which had brought him victory at Stoke City and the confidence they took from that win was obvious.

Given that the Millers had won their last two, you would expect them to be even more brimming with belief, but for long periods of the game that was not the case.

That Matt Taylor had used all five available substitutes by the 63rd minute told its own story.

Hull, though, were at it from the off, right winger Greg Docherty dragging a shot wide after good build-up play down his side.

Greaves either played a poor pass or if he meant it to go all the way through to Docherty and inspired one, and Viktor Johansson touched the ball behind for a corner which was pulled back for Dimitrios Pelkas to hoist over.

But it was the sharpness of the passing, the speed and the acute reverse balls, which so impressed. The Millers relied much more on brute force with Hull's former battering-ram centre-forward Tom Eaves restored up front.

Dan Barlaser's sloppy pass was rescued by an offside flag but when Longman and Pelkas – after robbing Wes Harding – both shot low at Johansson in the 23rd minute, it felt like a goal was coming.

The Millers, though, were able to take encouragement as Ben Wiles hit a bouncing ball and forced Nathan Baxter into the best save of the match, tipping the ball over, a minute later.

It did not exactly transform them, but it certainly lifted them, Harding putting in a good cross just in front of Conor Washington, and with Brooke Norton-Cuffy always a threat, they briefly had their spell.

But Hull came back into it before the break, and took the lead just before it as a corner ping-ponged around Rotherham's area before Greaves poked home his first goal in senior football.

Barlaser, however, took the fight straight back to the Tigers, finding space, then net from a tight angle in the second added minute.

If that gave the home fans hope, it was was brutally and quickly snuffed out.

In the 50th minute Johansson dealt poorly with a Pelkas free-kick, helping it to Slater, but squeezed the follow-up shot away with the aid of his near post.

Two minutes later Pelkas spread the ball to Christie who made space and scored at the near post. Johansson, who would save a one-on-one with Docherty five minutes later, might not have expected to be beaten there.

Christie showed nifty footwork to come inside, then found Jean Michael Seri. The pass he threaded to Greaves was exquisite, the finish Longman applied to the cross, no less than the move deserved.

With only 59 minutes gone, that was the end of the contest, although each side would get another goal.

Tufan seemed desperate to prove his point with a goal and at the third time of asking, he finished off a ball over the post.

Georgie Kelly got a consolation so scant as to be indecent when he slid onto Eaves' square ball in the 89th minute but a lot of Millers fans were in their cars by then, and it was the boisterous away fans who du du dued along to Chelsea Dagger the loudest.

For Rotherham, it was a chastening afternoon, for Hull a reminder of what they are capable of if they put their minds and their legs to it.

Rotherham United: Johansson; Harding, Wood, Peltier (Bramall 63); Barlaser; Norton-Cuffy (Hall 59), Rathbone (Odoffin 46), Wiles (High 59), Ferguson; Washington (Kelly 63), Eaves.Unused substitutes: Vickers, Humphreys.

Hull City: Baxter; Christie, Figueiredo, Jones, Greaves; Seri (Coyle 90), Woods (Sinik 90); Docherty, Pelkas (Tufan 63), Slater (McLoughlin 75); Longman (Estupinan 63).Unused substitutes: Ingram, Fleming.

Referee: S Martin (Staffordshire).

Andy Dawson takes top billing at Rotherham United as 4-2 win shows what Hull City can do when they put their minds and legs to it