Two own goals contributed to Middlesbrough’s victory at Hull City, giving Michael Carrick his first triumph as the team’s head coach.
The outcome allowed Boro to surpass the Tigers, who are about to name Liam Rosenior as their new head coach but are currently without a manager.
Before halftime, the visitors took the lead on a Chuba Akpom header, but Cyrus Christie equalised an hour later.
Tobias Figueiredo and Christie’s own goals, however, put the game away as the visitors moved up to 18th, two spots above the home team, who suffered their sixth loss in their previous seven games at the MKM Stadium.
Akpom scored in Carrick’s opening game as manager against Preston North End on Saturday, and he did it again to record his sixth goal of the year.
Akpom scored after a patient buildup close to the Hull penalty area when the ball was worked to Tommy Smith, who fired a cross to the back post.
After the break, Hull significantly improved, and Oscar Estupinan almost immediately forced a superb save from Zac Steffen.
Christie scored his second goal in three games after sprinting into the area from fullback, cutting onto his left foot, and deflecting the ball over Steffen.
At Deepdale, Boro had the lead before losing, but this time, they responded to their concession with much more vigour.
When Figueiredo successfully cleared Darragh Lenihan’s header from Isaiah Jones’ cross, they once again had the advantage.
The final goal Hull have allowed in the Championship is the 35th, which is the most in the division. Ryan Giles’ attempted low cross struck Christie and squirmed past Baxter at his near post to secure the victory.
Andy Dawson’s tenure as the Tigers’ interim head coach ended with nine points from his eight games in charge, which was not the way he had hoped to do so.
“The first half, we were a little bit passive. We told the players at half-time we needed more intensity and aggression.
“Second half, I thought a goal was coming and luckily enough it did. We had all the momentum, we had them pinned back but again two really poor goals, two own-goals, sums it up.
“Their second goal seemed to drain us and the game petered out, so overall disappointing.”
Middlesbrough head coach Michael Carrick told BBC Tees:
“I’m pleased for the boys and the feeling and the lift that will give them. They deserved that for the week they’ve given me and how they’ve gone about it.
“I thought we played some really good football at times. We’d like to do more of it for longer periods but there were definitely glimpses we can take positives from.
“But all in all, a really good night with lots of parts of the performance that we can be proud of.”
