Hull City 3 Middlesbrough 0: Super Tigers throw down gauntlet to their Championship rivals

VICTORY SEALED: Hull City players mob Tom Huddlestone after he scored their third goal in the Championship game against Middlesbrough. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe

Seeing his Hull City charges comprehensively dismantle a Middlesbrough side who craved the sanctuary provided by the final whistle a fair while before it arrived represented the best medicine that the north-easterner could have wished for.

All the talk beforehand ahead of the Championship’s eagerly-awaited game of the day was of the tight margins between both teams, who sat first and fourth, respectively, in the table, with just a point separating them.

Before kick-off, many soothsayers were hedging their bets predicting a draw and a closely-fought affair.

But how wrong they were in the final analysis.

While Hull pocketed the three points against their North Riding rivals, their pristine victory was more much that.

It did not provide a statement, more a manifesto. Championship, be warned.

In front of a season-best crowd of 20,352, Hull peerlessly extended their unbeaten sequence to 12 matches and secured a fifth consecutive league win for the first time since January, 2005 at a canter against a side bracketed as promotion favourites before a ball was kicked in August.

It was, quite simply, men against boys. Boro head coach Aitor Karanka ventured before the game that the Tigers were a Premier League team with Premier League players and when Jeremy Simpson signalled time at around 4.55pm, his words looked wise.

The best defence in England were left floundering by the end of proceedings against a powerhouse Hull side, who can boast 13 different scorers in the league so far this season.

Perhaps the biggest tribute to their proficiency and talent lies in the fact that a midfielder of some repute in Tom Huddlestone cannot get a starting jersey.

That said, he made the most of his cameo with his sumptuous long-ranger seven minutes from time gilding the win.

It was an afternoon when every manjack of the Hull line-up displayed their aptitude and more. From the back five, who helped the hosts secure their fifth successive Championship shut-out, to a well-oiled midfield, who left Boro chasing shadows by the end.

Up front, Abel Hernandez –rated as tired before the game by Bruce – put in a top shift and deserved the standing ovation he was afforded when he came off.

While the stain of relegation from Premier League for many players clad in black and amber may persist on their CV’s, the motivation to remove that unfortunate mark is clearly a powerful one – just ask defender Michael Dawson. He said: “There was a bit of a hangover earlier on in the season and, personally, it was the worst day of my career getting relegated from the Premier League.

“We want to be back there, everyone does, from the players to the fans, management and backroom staff, so if we can keep performing, keep having belief and keep working as hard as we do, we’ll be right up there.

“Everybody wants to be playing in the Premier League, of course they do, it’s the best league in the world, in my opinion.

“We are confident in the dressing room. I would always back us with the quality of squad that we have. We are together, we have a focus and an aim to get promoted.

“You’ve got to give credit to the lads because this was a big game and it was a big scalp.”

Saturday’s margin of victory was by no means flattering. The Tigers have kept the core of last season’s squad intact and the likes of Sam Clucas and Moses Odubajo have also added something to the dynamic.

The early evidence actually suggested that a close-run contest was in store.

The Teessiders had the best chance when Diego Fabbrini slipped in David Nugent, but he fired a low angled shot wide.

The Tigers assumed control and claimed the box seat with Dimi Konstantopoulos denying Clucas and Ahmed Elmohamady before the latter flicked a header just off target.

The pressure was building and Boro buckled just before the break when Mo Diame ghosted in to guide Elmohamady’s cross into the net.

Hull afforded no let-up in a second half which they dominated aside from a key save midway through the half from Allan McGregor to block George Friend’s point-blank effort.

The hosts scored twice and it could so easily have been more.

Clucas stuck out a leg to divert David Meyler’s miscued shot into the net on 67 minutes before a sublime strike from Huddlestone in the final 10 minutes applied the coup de grace.

A 3-0 beating is the phrase you are looking for.

Hull City: McGregor, Odubajo, Maguire, Dawson, Robertson, Elmohamady, Meyler (Hayden 87), Livermore, Clucas, Diame (Huddlestone 79), Hernandez (Akpom 72). Unused substitutes: Jakupovic, Taylor, Maloney, Luer.

Middlesbrough: Dimi, Kalas, Ayala, Amorebieta, Friend, Adomah, Zuculini, Clayton (Leadbitter 64), Downing, Fabbrini, Nugent (Kike 51). Unused substitutes: Mejias, Gibson, De Pena, Stephens, Nsue.

Referee: J Simpson (Lancashire).