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Darko Gyabi scored his second goal of the season to earn victory for Hull City Darko Gyabi's goal earned in-form Hull City an impressive Championship win at Middlesbrough which moves them to within two points of their second-placed opponents. The Tigers midfielder capitalised on great work by Kyle Joseph in the first half to secure a win which stretches his side's unbeaten run to five games. Defeat at the Riverside means that Boro have now gone three games without a win, or a goal, and they now have the play-off pack breathing down their necks in the chase for promotion. The defeat comes just 24 days after Kim Hellberg's side had won 4-1 in the reverse fixture at the MKM Stadium. Boro have suffered from injury absences in recent games, but the honeymoon period for head coach Hellberg, after his team won their first four games following his appointment in November, appears to have come to a halt. This loss follows a defeat at Bristol City and a goalless home draw with Blackburn. They came up against a Hull side which has been gaining momentum since that defeat by Boro earlier in the month, and they have now won four out of five. If they had not let two points slip at rock bottom Sheffield Wednesday on Friday they would have been level on points with Boro. Sergej Jakirovic switched to three centre-backs at the Riverside, although his gameplan was disturbed when wing-back Ryan Giles was forced off early through injury, which meant 19-year-old Cathal Mc Carthy was introduced for only his third appearance. With Regan Slater popping up everywhere and the Tigers defending as a team, Boro struggled to fashion any clear-cut chances, while at the other end a sharp piece of skill by Joseph brought the only goal. Taking Slater's pass, Joseph span past his marker Matt Targett and quick feet took him past goalkeeper Sol Brynn before he cut the ball back from the by-line for Gyabi to sweep into the net. Boro laid siege to the Hull goal but goalkeeper Ivor Pandur had only a tame Tommy Conway shot to deal with in the entire first 45 minutes as Hellberg's side huffed and puffed to no effect. Indeed, it was 72 minutes before Pandur had to stretch himself, getting low to turn away substitute Delano Burgzorg's attempt, and then going high to push a rising drive from the same player over the bar. This video can not be played Hellberg: Boro 'not scoring enough goals' Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg told BBC Radio Tees: "Making a game look like this and coming away without any points - that's not good enough. At the moment we're not scoring any goals, and we have to be honest with that - we're not good enough in those moments. "You can look at the last three games, not scoring a goal from something like 70 shots. That's not good enough so we have to work with that part. "Sometimes the ball just doesn't want to go in, but you also have to look at the quality in the finishing, how we get players in the best positions to finish, and that's what I have to look at. "We had 23 shots, and they had one shot on target and made it count. " Hull City head coach Sergej Jakirovic told BBC Radio Humberside: "We were almost perfect in the defensive phase because we knew Middlesbrough would have the ball and are really dangerous. "They have the biggest possession [percentage] in this league, and that's the reason we changed our system today so we had control in the middle zone to try to direct them on the sides and then when they had a cross in our box we had control there. "We were very good in this and when we used our chance through Darko [Gyabi]. At the end of the game I didn't feel we were struggling. They try to put you under pressure with crosses or shooting, but if we didn't stop it with the [outfield] players then Ivor [Pandur] made two saves. "I cannot be unhappy today because we got three points in a very difficult place. " After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users. Comments can not be loaded To load Comments you need to enable Java Script in your browser Last Updated 29th December 2025 at 22: 08 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Manager: Kim Hellberg Formation: 4 - 2 - 2 - 2 Manager: Sergej Jakirovic Formation: 3 - 5 - 2 Manager: Kim Hellberg Formation: 4 - 2 - 2 - 2 Manager: Sergej Jakirovic Formation: 3 - 5 - 2 Championship All competitions All competitions All competitions Middlesbrough have won each of their last three league games against Hull, their longest ever winning run against the Tigers. Hull have won two of their last four away league games against Middlesbrough (L2), as many as they had in their previous 26 visits (D4 L20). Middlesbrough won the reverse fixture against Hull 4-1 earlier this month – the last time they beat the same opponent twice in the same month in the league was December 1966 (vs Darlington). Middlesbrough have won their final league game in five of the last seven calendar years, with the exceptions coming in 2020 (1-2 v Sheffield Wednesday) and 2024 (0-0 v Burnley). Hull City won their final league game in each of 2022, 2023 and 2024, last doing so in four consecutive calendar years between 1981 and 1984. Match ends, Middlesbrough 0, Hull City 1. Second Half ends, Middlesbrough 0, Hull City 1. Delay over. They are ready to continue. Delay in match (Middlesbrough). Attempt blocked. Sontje Hansen (Middlesbrough) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Alex Bangura. Fourth official has announced 4 minutes of added time. Corner, Middlesbrough. Conceded by Cathal Mc Carthy. Attempt blocked. Delano Burgzorg (Middlesbrough) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Aidan Morris. Corner, Middlesbrough. Conceded by Liam Millar. Attempt missed. Amir Hadziahmetovic (Hull City) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Foul by Aidan Morris (Middlesbrough). Oliver Mc Burnie (Hull City) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Attempt missed. Luke Ayling (Middlesbrough) right footed shot from the right side of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Sverre Nypan. Substitution, Middlesbrough. Sverre Nypan replaces Tommy Conway. Aidan Morris (Middlesbrough) wins a free kick on the right wing. Foul by Darko Gyabi (Hull City). Attempt blocked. Morgan Whittaker (Middlesbrough) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Delano Burgzorg. Alex Bangura (Middlesbrough) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Oliver Mc Burnie (Hull City). Foul by Delano Burgzorg (Middlesbrough). Copyright © 2025 BBC. 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