Joe Gelhardt scored his fifth goal in six games as Hull defeated struggling Portsmouth 3-2 at the MKM Stadium.
The Leeds loan signing showed supreme calmness to dink the ball over goalkeeper Josef Bursik from inside the penalty area after he latched onto Charlie Hughes’ long ball in the 77th minute.
Hull have now matched last season’s tally of five home wins – they have also lost just once in eight games – but looked up against it after Terry Devlin opened the scoring during a breathless first half.
Enis Destan and Kyle Joseph cancelled out Devlin’s deflected goal, but Portsmouth showed laudable grit to restore parity when Devlin headed in Josh Murphy’s brilliant cross just before the break.
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Joe Gelhardt scores a brilliant goal to put Hull 3-2 up against Portsmouth
Yet Pompey, who have not won since October 4, left East Yorkshire with nothing to show for their endeavours following Gelhardt’s moment of quality.
Indeed, the scoreline would have been more emphatic for Hull had Joseph and Gelhardt not missed fine opportunities before they fell behind.
The first of those came after three minutes when Regan Slater’s assured pass found Joseph, who opted for power when craft was required to beat Bursik.
Gelhardt then wasted another good opportunity six minutes later when he cut inside and struck just wide of the right post – though the better option would have been to pass to Destan on the edge of the six-yard box.
Portsmouth were not without an attacking threat, however, and punished the hosts for their wastefulness when Devlin scored from the edge of the area.
Hull struggled to handle Conor Chaplin’s arching cross towards the back post, with Joseph the main culprit when he tamely stabbed the ball as far as the ‘D’.
Devlin’s shot was purposeful, but perhaps unlikely to have found the back of the net until it wrong-footed Ivor Pandur after a deflection of the luckless Joseph.
An entertaining first half always had the feel of more goals – and so it proved.
Hull equalised after 27 minutes when Lewie Coyle’s fine cross from the right flank was swept home on the half-volley by Destan.
Suitably inspired, the Tigers made it 2-1 three minutes before the break.
Gelhardt slung over a corner from the right, off which Joseph headed back across goal and into the bottom-right corner – though the ball ricocheted off defender Luke Le Roux’s shin at the back post.
Portsmouth fans might have feared the worst, such has been their poor run of form.
But their side creditably fought back in first-half stoppage time through the unmarked Devlin, who scored at the back post with a fine header.
Murphy deserves just as much credit as the goalscorer, though, as his wicked cross, flush from the left touchline, was almost unplayable.
By contrast to the first half, the second became a midfield-dominated skirmish – with Slater heading over Ryan Giles’ left-wing cross the only notable opportunity until Gelhardt’s match-winning intervention.
Portsmouth rallied late in the game – Bursik even had a chance when he headed over the crossbar with seconds remaining – but they could not find a way through.
The managers
Hull’s Sergej Jakirovic:
“When I watched him in last season’s games, I begged Mr Chairman (Acun Ilicali) to bring him back here.
“He likes playing here and he wanted to come back here. He has a completely different profile to the players we have.
“He has the quality to play in a number of positions and is able to pass, shoot and has speed, which is special.
“He’s 23 years old and maybe he can reach the Premier League. But, right now, he’s made the difference.”
Portsmouth’s John Mousinho:
“It was, in large parts, positive, particularly the way we started, but the three goals we conceded were really poor.
“We didn’t have a huge amount of pressure in the second half, but we didn’t look exposed.
“We invited pressure in the way we handled the ball going forward. We were also a bit more defensively generous, but we have to take collective responsibility.
“If you look at the second half, for 35 minutes we looked very, very solid, but the goal changes the game.
“Objectively, on that performance, it’s two steps forwards two steps backwards.
“It (the international break) is good for us as we get players back for the Millwall game – maybe it’s just been a bit too much for the squad of late.”
