Super Eagles midfielder Alex Iwobi’s deflected first-half strike finally ended Fulham’s long wait for a Premier League win this season and eased the mounting pressure on head coach Álvaro Arbeloa.
The Nigerian midfielder curled a low shot from the edge of the box in the 33rd minute that took a deflection off Lucas Herrington and squirmed under Hull goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis on Saturday.
It was enough to secure all three points against a blunt Hull side and lift the Cottagers off the foot of the table.
Fulham had gone six league matches without a victory under Arbeloa, who succeeded Marco Silva in July.
Despite several promising performances, results had refused to follow. This one did.
Arbeloa described the result as “massive.”
“It’s a massive game for us,” he told BBC Match of the Day.
He pointed ahead to a demanding week, away at Coventry next Saturday followed by an EFL Cup tie against Crystal Palace, and called it “a massive week.”
“It won’t be easy, but we know how we need to play and compete. We have to be competitive in this league.
We have our way and hope we can win many games.”
The goal arrived in the 100th meeting between the two clubs.
Hull twice failed to clear their lines, allowing Sander Berge to slide the ball into Iwobi’s path.
The former Arsenal and Everton man made no mistake, even if Tzolakis will feel he should have done better.
Fulham controlled large periods of the contest.
They created chance after chance while restricting Hull to very little.
Mohamed Belloumi’s dragged effort in the second half was about as close as the visitors came.
Gonzalo García later struck the crossbar with a header as the home side hunted a second.
The only sour note came deep into stoppage time when substitute Ryan Sessegnon was shown a straight red card for a studs-up challenge on the back of Robinio Vaz’s calf.
Arbeloa was full of praise for his players’ application.
“We were having the same feeling as other matches, when we were controlling the game for long spells and having good chances but didn’t score,” he said.
“Our rivals punish our mistakes or take their chances, but we were brilliant for 90 minutes. We controlled the game, had many chances and didn’t concede any clear chances to Hull.
“We have been working so hard and deserved this.”