You want leaders and there are plenty in the team

their task. I think everyone knows we have decisions to make on my future, the futures of other staff, and the ownership. Hopefully, decisions will soon be taken. It could be a busy time.

“All I can do is take the team and win football matches. At the moment, that’s going to plan. We are sticking together and you are seeing that in the performances. It’s no fluke.

“Curtis has done really well. But to single out one player wouldn’t be fair. All have responded. You want leaders and there are plenty in the team at the moment.”

Having marshalled his tiny band of 13 fit senior players and various kids, Phelan was asked how it felt to hear Tigers fans sing, “We want Phelan in”.

“It’s much better than hearing, ‘ We want Phelan out’,” he said.

“The players have stuck to the task of being resilient and dogged. We forced Swansea to do things they don’t normally want to do.”

The Swans had a monopoly on possession for most of the game, but their approach work was undone by a shoddy final ball or inaccurate finishing.

They had chances to go ahead in both halves – especially for Federico Llorente and Gylfi Sigurdsson – but the longer the game went on, the conviction drifted out of them and Hull sensed the game could be theirs.

Davies had just been denied by a fine save from Lukasz Fabianski with a header from a corner before the centre-back connected with another 13 minutes from time.

Maloney stooped to flick it past Fabianski for the opener and then the substitute calmly rolled the ball to Hernandez to score the second after a precise pass from the impressive Robert Snodgrass.

Swansea boss Francesco Guidolin admitted it was a bad day for the club’s new American owners – Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien – to take their first look at what their millions have bought them.

The Italian said: “I am disappointed with that.

“It was not a good day for us and I felt sorry for the owners, as well as the supporters.”