TEESSIDE paid its respects to one of their own at the Riverside Stadium on Boxing Day when the late, great Chris Rea was commemorated - with his Yuletide hit 'Driving Home for Christmas' having taken on a particular resonance over the festive season.

Earlier on this month, another feted song from the Middlesbrough singer-songwriter was more appropriate for Hull City.

Namely 'The Road to Hell' during a horror opening half in the reverse fixture in East Yorkshire, which saw Boro race into an unassailable 4-0 interval lead.

‘Our worst performance of the season’, City head coach Sergej Jakirovic lamented afterwards and it was certainly no understatement.

Hull City's Darko Gyabi (second from right) celebrates scoring their side's first goal of the game during the Sky Bet Championship match at the Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough. Picture: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire.

placeholder image — Hull City's Darko Gyabi (second from right) celebrates scoring their side's first goal of the game during the Sky Bet Championship match at the Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough. Picture: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire.

Twenty-four days on and the Tigers had their chance to dish up some revenge in their final outing of the calendar year against a Boro side who also dined out at their expense in their first game of 2025 on New Year's Day.

And they served it up masterfully with an intelligent away performance, which saw them defend an early lead given to them by Darko Gyabi in resolute, on message fashion. The boos at the end came from Boro’s supporters.

Much has been made of City’s goalscoring prowess. This was a night about organisation.

Following a third successive blank, goalscoring has raised its ugly head again for Boro, who will not retain their current placing unless they find a cutting edge more consistently.

Middlesbrough's Aidan Morris (second from right) and Hull City's Lewis Coyle (centre) battle for the ball during the Sky Bet Championship match at the Riverside Stadium. Photo: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire.

In 12 home games, they have found the net on just 16 occasions. Not a number of a top-two contender. Hull are now just two points behind them.

News of Coventry’s defeat represented a window opportunity in one sense for Boro, while also being naturally entitled to be mindful of Ipswich on their shoulder.

In the event, it was Hull - not too far away from Boro in the standings either and now level with Ipswich - who stepped up in the first period and saw their chance, in marked contrast to their efforts on December 5.

Thoroughly disorganised at the MKM Stadium, here their game plan was cohesive and convincing - it was in tatters at the break in the reverse fixture.

With Gyabi and Joel Ndala given licence to support Kyle Joseph, also recalled, they had threat on the counter and also protection and organisation behind.

An excellent opener from their perspective gave them further encouragement.

It was smartly taken on 12 minutes.

A well-manufactured move saw Charlie Hughes slip the ball to Regan Slater, one of a number of Tigers players who had a much better time out of it compared to three-and-a-half weeks earlier.

He spotted Joseph, who spun away cleverly from Matt Targett. He had the presence of mind to cut the ball back to Gyabi, who tucked the ball away low past Sol Brynn.

Boro had plenty of the ball after and huffed and puffed and had a number of set-piece opportunities, six corners in total and boasted a possession count of just under 65 per cent. But City, operating with a back five, with Akin Famewo drafted into the side, blocked out the danger well.

Their efforts were given added kudos after losing ex-Boro man Ryan Giles after just six minutes due to a hamstring issue. Teenager Cathal McCarthy came on for just his third appearance of the campaign.

Hayden Hackney actually hit the post early on before the opener, but an offside flag was raised in any case. In terms of legitimate moments, there was only one real opening just before the interval, when Hackney cut the ball back to Tommy Conway, whose shot was straight at Ivor Pandur. It was their sole effort on target in the opening half.

After the disappointing stalemate against Blackburn three days earlier, this was even more underwhelming from the off-colour hosts and the quality was low-grade.

Hull were frustrated by the officiating at times with Jakirovic’s complaints earning him a booking. The scoreline was far more to his satisfaction following a tactical success.

The issues at the break belonged to his counterpart.

Boro again saw plenty of the ball on the restart, but Hull held firm before reinforcements were called for as the hosts struggled to break down the visitors’ wall of sky blue jerseys.

A chance then finally broke with substitute Burgzorg’s low shot producing the first significant work of the night from Pandur, who turned away his near-post effort, low down.

Soon after, Morgan Whittaker, one or several below-par home players, cut inside and saw his angled shot fly wide instead of nestling in the net. Burgzorg then spun McCarthy and tested Pandur, who turned over his rising shot, from a tight angle.

Burgzorg went close before the end. But it was Hull’s night and there were no chants of ‘Merry Christmas, Kim Hellberg’ this time from Boro punters. There were boos instead.

Middlesbrough: Brynn; Brittain, Ayling, Targett, Bangura; Browne (Morris 59), Gilbert (Hansen 59), Whittaker, Hackney, Conway; Sene (Burgzorg 59). Substitutes unused: McLaughlin, Hamilton, Nypan, Silvera, McCormick, Kante.

Hull City: Pandur; Coyle (Palmer 75), Hughes, Egan, Famewo (Millar 68), Giles (McCarthy 6), Slater, Crooks, Ndala (Hadziahmetovic 68); Crooks, Joseph (McBurnie 75). Substitutes unused: Phillips, Akintola, Destan, Ashbee.

Referee: L Doughty (Lancs).