Koren strikes late on to prove his growing value to Tigers

The Slovenian was part of the West Bromwich Albion squads in 2008 and 2010 that won automatic promotion before moving to the KC Stadium at the start of last season.

Since then, Koren has become a mainstay of the Tigers side with his worth again being underlined when he netted a 94th-minute winner against Watford.

It took his tally of goals for the campaign to three but, more importantly, it left Hull sitting seventh, Nigel Pearson’s men only kept out of the play-offs due to Derby having score more goals.

Hull do have a game in hand, however, and there is a genuine belief building in the East Riding that this could be the club’s year.

Koren said: “I came to Hull to try to play in the Premier League again. I did it twice with West Brom and, hopefully, this year we can do it again.

“We are going well in the moment but we need to go step by step. We need to be focused and concentrate.

“It will be a bigger achievement than before because with West Brom we had a good team with experienced players.

“Here we have a good team, but we have a young team and we can build on this result and keep going.”

Hull were far from at their best against struggling Watford, who twice led only to be pegged back by goals from Matty Fryatt and Aaron Mclean.

For Mclean, it was a notable moment with the strike being his first at the KC Stadium since he joined Hull from Peterborough in a £1.3m deal at the start of the year.

The 67th-minute goal brought the score level at 2-2 and set up a frantic finale in which both sides had chances before Koren sealed the win with a low drive from outside the penalty area.

Not playing well but collecting all three points is, of course, a habit that can prove decisive in a promotion race.

Koren said: “From my experience, wins like this are a massive three points and they show we have the right character in the team and good spirit.

“It will give us extra belief and extra energy because we have a young squad and it is always good to go out with three points from a game like this when you are twice behind.

“Watford came here with a game plan, but if we look at the whole 90 minutes then I felt we deserved the three points.”

On his winning strike, Koren added: “All three goals were massive but I was really pleased that I got the last one.

“When I received the ball I knew it was so late in the game that I needed to try and shoot. I have this confidence all the time that I can score from distance. Thankfully, as I came through the midfield it opened up for me to shoot.”

The three goals scored against Watford meant City boosted their scoring ratio to one a game in the Championship and Koren is predicting there will be a further improvement.

He said: “In the last few games we improved a lot and we have been playing good football.

“We are trying to create a lot of chances and hopefully in the future we can score as many goals as possible.”

Middlesbrough went second on Saturday after goals by Rhys Williams and Marvin Emnes guided them to a 2-0 win over Derby.

Leeds United are up to fifth after Darren O’Dea’s stoppage-time winner secured a 3-2 victory at Peterborough.

The Republic of Ireland defender tucked away Adam Clayton’s free-kick in the 95th minute.

Andy Keogh’s stunning opener had put Leeds ahead, but Gabriel Zakuani levelled before Posh were reduced to 10 men when Lee Tomlin scythed through the back of Keogh.

Clayton fired Leeds back in front but the hosts thought they had salvaged a point after Paul Rachubka’s mistake allowed Mark Little to equalise two minutes from time.

Cardiff enjoyed a rollercoaster 5-3 win over Barnsley.

Kenny Miller’s fourth goal of the season put Cardiff ahead with Joe Mason doubling their lead. Danny Drinkwater pulled one back but Aron Gunnarsson put Cardiff 3-1 up at the interval.

Don Cowie extended the lead with a right-footed shot with half-an-hour to go before Gunnarsson scored the fifth from close range.

The Tykes got the seventh goal of the game when Jimmy McNulty headed home with eight minutes to go and Ricardo Vaz Te completed the scoring.

Luke Varney fired managerless Portsmouth into a third-minute lead against Doncaster Rovers, but former Southampton midfielder Simon Gillett drew Rovers level. Dave Kitson and Varney then secured a 3-1 Pompey win.

In League One, Sheffield Wednesday manager Gary Megson hailed his side’s 2-0 victory over Colchester United this weekend as their ‘best result of the season’.

The Owls boast a 100 per cent success rate at Hillsborough and made it seven home wins out of seven to stay just two points behind League One leaders Charlton and a point behind Huddersfield, who have made the best start to a season in the club’s history.

However, the win was only secured once the Owls had come to terms with Colchester’s tactics and stepped up their own performance.

Megson said: “When you look back on a season, there are always games where you will say that was a great result because we didn’t do what we know we can do. That, so far, is our best result of the season because we didn’t play in the first half.

“At times, it was like a gardening programme. It was like watching paint dry,” he added. “They didn’t park the bus but they kept two banks of four and they didn’t create anything.”

Goals from defenders Rob Jones and Reda Johnson eventually settled the contest in front of a crowd of 17,634.

Defender Johnson will miss the Owls’ game at Carlisle United, tomorrow night, after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season.

But his latest performance in his new position of left-back again justified his manager’s decision to move him from centre-back.

Huddersfield kept ahead of the Owls after Jordan Rhodes claimed his second successive hat-trick for the Terriers in a 3-1 win over Preston. Rhodes slotted home in the fourth minute and doubled his, and Huddersfield’s, tally three minutes before the break with a close-range header.

He completed his hat-trick 12 minutes after the break when he slotted home from the six-yard box. The Lilywhites pulled one back through Juvhel Tsoumou.

Sheffield United conceded a goal six minutes into stoppage time in their 1-1 draw at Leyton Orient.

The hosts were down to 10 men for the last 16 minutes when Charlie Daniels got a straight red card and the Blades appeared to have scored the winner when Chris Porter struck with six minutes left. Kevin Lisbie, however, intervened to claim a point.

In League Two, Shrewsbury drew 1-1 at Rotherham. Lewis Grabban’s long-range strike gave the Millers the lead before Shane Cansdell-Sherriff equalised on half-time.

Bradford beat Northampton 2-1, Craig Fagan (penalty) and James Hanson replying to Michael Jacobs’s opener.