WITH A BANG...
Nugent strikes at death to welcome home Karanka
his favoured but at times rigid 4-2-3-1 formation with defensive midfielders Adam Clayton and Grant Leadbitter supporting the attacking trio of Albert Adomah, Cristhian Stuani and Gaston Ramirez.
Bruce opted for the same, but Hull looked more collective with the midfield of Snodgrass, Mo Diame and Sam Clucas complementing lone striker Aluko.
Playing up to a vibrant atmosphere at the Riverside, Boro started brightly. But in the final third, there was little spark. The home side did threaten in the 13th minute though, Stuani planting a deft header onto a Leadbitter corner, which had the necessary direction to beat Allan McGregor, but not defender Andy Robertson who cleared away the danger on the line.
Snodgrass then fluffed his lines in the 34th minute when he failed to hit the target after getting on the end of a Clucas cross.
The game then began to drift. Boro fed on nothing more than scraps, while the visitors seemed to lose their pace once Abel Hernandez replaced the tiring Aluko in the 73rd minute. Then came Elmohamady’s miss; Diame muscled his way through the Boro defence and found Hernandez, whose blocked shot fell to the winger. However, his rash effort summed up Hull’s recent goalscoring woes.
And, just 11 seconds into injurytime, Boro delivered the sucker punch. Emilio Nsue and Adomah swapped passes on the right, before the latter switched to his left peg and found the rising Nugent.
“We didn’t deserve that,” said Bruce. “It’s cruel, but we’ll go again.
“Eighty-six points has been enough to go up in recent years. It’s all to play for. Anything can happen in this crazy league.”