- Niasse jumps off bench to score twice
- Hull within one point of safety
- Tigers have beat Swans three times this season
- Swans just three points above the drop
Hull City beat Swansea City 2-1 at the KCOM Stadium on Saturday as Oumar Niasse played the hero from the bench.
The on loan Everton striker scored twice in the second half to clinch three valuable points for Hull against their relegation rivals as Marco Silva’s men have given themselves a fighting chance of staying up. Swansea dominated large chunks of the game but poor finishing from Wayne Routledge cost them dear and Alfie Mawson’s late goal was nothing more than a consolation.
With the win Hull have 24 points and move up to 18th place and are one point from safety, while Swansea are on 27 points and remain in the thick of the relegation battle.
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Swansea got in-behind Hull’s defense early in the game as Routledge was set free but in-form goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic produced a fine save to keep the scores level.
Hull then forced the issue but Swansea almost went ahead when Sigurdsson’s free kick was almost deflected into his own net by Tom Huddlestone but Jakupovic again came to the rescue.
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Before half time Swansea were forced into two substitutions as Angel Rangel was replaced by Jordi Amat and Fernando Llorente came off with Jordan Ayew coming on.
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In the second half the Swans continued to press and a ball across goal from Tom Carroll found Routledge but he hit his shot over when he should’ve done better.
Jakupovic then saved superbly from Sigurdssons’s free kick and then saved again from the resulting corner as Hull’s defense was under siege.
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Hull went for it late on as Niasse came on to make a difference. Kamil Grosicki had a shot cleared by a Swans defender and soon after Hull were ahead.
A long ball forward found Niasse in the clear and he calmly slotted past Lukasz Fabianski to make it 1-0 to the home team.
Despite late Swansea pressure, Hull again broke free with Niasse finishing superbly to score his and Hull’s second of the game as he breathed new life into Hull’s survival bid.
Mawson scored late on but it was nothing more than a consolation goal.