Celebrations around Hull City's ugly win a lesson for cheesed off Middlesbrough to take on board

At one point Abba's Voulez-Vous was blaring but perhaps The Winner Takes It All was a more appropriate soundtrack for the Tigers' night. It was a message Middlesbrough manager Michael Carrick did not really want to hear.

Carrick and his opposite number Liam Rosenior are footballing purists, dedicated to the “process” the latter mentioned as soon as he was asked why he rated the former so highly, rather than dictated to by points.

But it is only points that win prizes in the Championship and that is the name of the game.

Middlesbrough played better for more of the game, and when they were piling forward looking to add to Emmanuel Latte Lath's sixth-minute opener and Hull were giving the ball away like they were high on Christmas spirit, you thought there was only one winner.

“I thought we played ever so well,” said Carrick. “Against a good team, we gave them next to nothing, played some really good football, looked dangerous and had so many opportunities.”

It was so one-sided, 20 minutes in, the away fans were singing “We've got the ball!”

But in a game between two teams who kicked off with consecutive defeats, it was Hull who stopped the rot with a 2-1 win.

Three things were key: their spirit, their goalkeeper and Rosenior's tactical overhaul.

He made three substitutions on the hour. As well as bringing on a left-footer – Ruben Vinagre – at left-back to give his team more attacking thrust from deep and adding the midfield guile of playermakers Ozan Tufan and Adama Traore, Rosenior moved Lewie Coyle to the right, and dropped Tyler Morton as the midfield anchor of what went from a 4-4-2 to something approaching 4-1-4-1.

“I did think about making changes at half-time but this was a big game for me because I wanted to see the mentality of the group so I just decided to stick it out another five or 10 minutes,” said Rosenior.

“We started the second half much better but credit to Michael, he saw where the overload was on the side of the pitch.

“At that point I wanted to go more of a 4-3-3 press and get extra legs on and energy on the pitch.”

As soon as Liam Delap's header from a Jacob Greaves flick-on at a 69th-minute corner hit the net, Greg Docherty was introduced, and Sean McLoughlin came on in the 76th, a team overhauled in 16 minutes.

Vinagre, Docherty and Tufan combined for the winner, the full-back crossing, the midfielder laying it off when Dan Barlaser failed to deal with the delivery and Tufan smashing it in first time.

It was only half the story.

Ryan Allsop denied Latte Lath a second minutes after his first. Shortly after the equaliser he kept out Isaiah Jones. Sam Greenwood's follow-up too.

The game ended with both goalkeepers in Hull's penalty crowded area for a corner as Allsop saved again from Jones and a Rav van den Berg effort was deflected around the post. The final whistle blew and amber-and-black-shirted players and bibbed substitutes jumped into their goalkeeper's arms.

“We've got an incredible group with everyone in it together,” said Delap, only on loan from Manchester City, but a fully-fledged Tiger. “We all believe in ourselves and buy into how the gaffer and the staff send us out to play.

“We're in a really good place as a team and we're really happy to be team-mates with each other.”

It felt like a huge win for the visitors.

“That first-half performance was probably the worst we've played in a long, long time,” said Rosenior.

“You can't play Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday-Tuesday and expect to be on top form (every game).

“You've got to find different ways to win.”

Delap has come through the academy at a club which values the beautiful side of the beautiful game, but the glory of winning ugly was not lost on him.

“It's massive for us as a team,” he said. “We've had a few tough games in recent times but we showed what great character and togetherness we've got.

“Probably it wasn't our best performance of the season but that's the Championship for you and sometimes you've got to win them ugly games.”

Carrick was hearing no criticism of his team, even if he hit the nail on the head himself.

"I don't think we need a spark," he replied when asked.

"I thought the performance was there. I thought the boys did a lot of good things and we'll take a lot of confidence from it.

“If we play like that most weeks we'll be fine.”