City made it three wins in the space of a week to keep promotion push going
Barry Cooper Hull City correspondent
18:27, 24 Jan 2026Updated 18:30, 24 Jan 2026
Hull City’s Regan Slater celebrates his goal against Swansea(Image: PA)
Hull City head coach Sergej Jakirovic has told supporters it’s OK to dream about automatic promotion, after the Tigers claimed a third win inside a week, surviving a second-half recovery from Swansea City to claim a 2-1 victory.
First-half goals from Oli McBurnie and Regan Slater saw City hold a commanding half-time lead against the Swans, before a dominant second half from the visitors changed the game.
Liam Cullen’s deft header in the second half threatened to drag the visitors back into the contest, but Jakirovic’s decision to change to a back five in the final stages was crucial in his side holding on.
The result comes on the back of away wins at Southampton and Preston North End in the past few days, and sees City fourth in the Championship, five points off the top two but with a game in hand to come at home against Watford next month.
City also reached the magical 50-point mark in the process, while increasing their gap to the chasing pack outside the play-offs to seven points.
Though the Tigers remain firm outsiders for a place in the top two, the Croatian has no issue with anyone believing they can do it.
“It’s the Championship. We will try to push there; we are now there. Maybe you can dream about second place,” Jakirovic told Hull Live.
“If it’s your target, second place, this is my opinion, you will finish in the top six one hundred per cent. There is no pressure.
“We have to enjoy this moment and just continue like this. Of course, you cannot win every game. This is not possible, we are there, and we will try to reach those positions.”
The victory also means City have surpassed their points total last season (49), with the Croatian suggesting the first target has been reached.
“We are safe now,” he joked. “I said to the lads that we’ve ticked off our first target, which was reaching 50 points.
“I think that it was a good decision to change formation because Swansea put everything offensively on the pitch, which is expected.
“We agreed at half-time that we are searching for the third goal, but we dropped immediately, especially in the first 15 minutes, we couldn’t kick the ball forward, and I think Swansea deserved to score because in the first half, Zan Viptonik missed two chances. That was very lucky for us.
“They were two hundred per cent chances. We used our situations through the penalty and through Regan’s, which was a great goal, an outstanding goal, and then in the second half, we didn’t lose our heads, I think, after it went to 2-1.
“We tried to break the rhythm with substitutions and changes in formation, to increase stability and control the number eights in the pockets and in the attacking space behind us.
“Maybe through John Egan and Kyle Joseph, we could score the third goal. Ivor (Pandur) saved some shots there, also very good.
“In the end, we are very happy after seven days, three games, we’ve got nine points. If someone had told me that at the start of the week, I would have said they were crazy.”
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