Hull City 1-2 Stoke City: Moran nets as Robins gets first league win

Stoke’s away form makes similarly grim reading – having previously picked up only 10 points out of a possible 42 on the road this season.

And Robins may have feared the worst when Lynden Gooch was outmuscled by Sean McLoughlin at the back post from a well-worked Hull short corner taken by Matazo. The ball then skidded across the six-yard box, for Matazo to run in and score from a tight angle.

Matazo really ought to have scored a second after 20 minutes when a hopeful long ball was superbly controlled by Joao Pedro, who cut it back but the new man scuffed his effort into keeper Viktor Johansson’s chest.

And instead Stoke equalised just before the break when Tatsuki Seko sent over a rather ambitious lofted cross from the right that required a routine clearance, but Cody Drameh got the ball tangled under his left boot, gifting Al-Hamadi an

The Liverpool-bred Iraq international also played a significant role in a glorious early second-half chance for Stoke when he ghosted past Matty Jacobs before squaring the ball to Josh Wilson-Esbrand, only for Drameh to atone for his earlier mistake with a brilliant goal-line clearance.

Moran then replaced Al-Hamadi on the hour, and scored with his first meaningful moment of the game when Koumas shot at the back post but the ball fizzed into the feet of Moran, who briskly controlled to score.

Hull, who brought on new loan signing Louie Barry for his debut just before the hour, could have equalised at the death when Johansson smothered McLoughlin’s one-on-one effort just outside the six-yard box – but Robins’ men held firm.