Liam Rosenior described Hull's performance in their 2-1 victory over Southampton as the culmination of his work as Tigers boss.
Anass Zaroury bagged his first goal for the club since arriving on loan from Burnley before Liverpool loanee Fabio Carvalho put the visitors in control for their fourth straight away win – and first at Southampton since 1951.
Rosenior, whose side made it three wins in a row for the first time since he took over in November 2022 and moved into the play-off places, said: “We've come away to an outstanding team, with outstanding players and an outstanding manager, and we had to be brave.
“That first-half performance is exactly what I've been working so hard to bring to the club. I have bored all the supporters talking about the process but seeing that first-half performance was top.
“I am so proud of the lads but I don't want to get carried away. I just see it as the next step for this team.
“From the outside it is a big step but inside I don't take any notice of runs or what we can and can't achieve.
“This is a young team that will make mistakes, and we'll make more mistakes along the way, but when it comes off it is a delight to watch.”
The Tigers struck in the 11th minute when a long ball from goalkeeper Ryan Allsop caught Saints off-guard. Ryan Giles carried before the ball found its way to Jaden Philogene, and Gavin Bazunu parried the winger's powerful shot into the path of Zaroury to tap in his first goal in five days short of a year.
Philogene then nabbed the ball off Joe Rothwell on the edge of the Saints box before releasing Carvalho for his second goal since arriving from Anfield.
Joe Aribo grabbed an 88th-minute consolation for Saints but their manager Russell Martin was left furious at the first-half horror show.
Saints ended an 11-game winning run at St Mary's to drop to fourth and Martin said: “First half was rubbish, the second half was very good but that doesn't matter very much when you're 2-0 down.
“No one cares if you play well in the second half when you aren't good in the first half and are behind.
“Hull were good, we knew that from the first game (a last-minute 2-1 win for Saints in October). We had a good chance with Rothwell before they can get into the game, we don't take it, and somehow that doesn't spur us on to go more aggressive.
“Their goal is something we worked on in training yesterday as we've seen them do it a lot, so to allow that to happen is a nonsense.
“Last week's defeat (their first after 25 games unbeaten, against Bristol City) was down to a lack of aggression, this week it was a lack of courage. The two things you need is courage and aggression.”
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