Bottom-of-the-table Leicester City ended a 13-game winless streak in the Premier League after earning a hard-fought 1-0 win away to Hull City.
Riyad Mahrez's first-half strike proved enough to give the Foxes their first win since beating Manchester United 5-3 back in November.
Hull threw the kitchen sink at Leicester in the closing stages, with Paul Konchesky and Stephen Quinn both sent off late on for very different reasons.
Here, Sports Mole takes a closer look at the drama at the KC Stadium.
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Match statistics
HULL CITY
Shots: 12
On target: 5
Possession: 63%
Corners: 7
Fouls: 12
LEICESTER CITY
Shots: 4
On target: 2
Possession: 37%
Corners: 1
Fouls: 9
Was the result fair?
Simply put, no. Despite putting in a woeful first-half showing, Hull recovered well and they did more than enough to snatch all three points, and manager Steve Bruce will wonder how his side came away with nothing.
Hull City's performance
Having beaten Sunderland 3-1 on Boxing Day to escape the relegation zone, the visit of bottom-placed Leicester represented a big chance for the Tigers to put further distance between themselves and the bottom three. The significant permutations did not reflect Hull's first-half performance, however, as Bruce's side looked rather apathetic throughout the opening 45 minutes and found themselves a goal down.
Things did improve in a second half that Hull dominated, to be fair, with substitute Abel Hernandez - their final change at the 60-minute mark - leading their comeback bid, but it never happened.
Bruce might cite misfortune in his post-match interview, and they were unlucky at times after hitting the post twice, but overall they just did not have enough quality in the final third to force an equaliser. Leicester, to their credit, defended well at times, but the hosts' misfiring attackers should have asked far more questions of City's back four.
Leicester City's performance
The Foxes looked a team determined to end 2014 on a high note after taking a deserved half-time lead through Mahrez, whose tidy finish was the only talking point in an otherwise quiet first half from both teams. Hull asked questions of their defence in the closing stages of the half but Leicester's back four stood up really well to earn their lead at the interval.
It was more of the same backs-to-the-wall stuff throughout the second half. They rode their luck at times, and survived one or two major scares, but the result was always far more important than Leicester's performance this afternoon. They came into the game six points adrift of safety - a deficit that has since been cut to three points - and Nigel Pearson will not care about the scrappy manner of the win.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Riyad Mahrez: He was not always involved in the game, but you wonder how important his goal could prove to be come the end of the season - and it was a fine effort.
Mahrez latched on to David Nugent's ball, running at Hull's back four and cutting inside Quinn before curling left-footed beyond Allan McGregor. There were shades of Arjen Robben about the goal, and if Leicester do survive the drop this season then we will be looking back at that strike as the watershed moment.
Biggest gaffe
It has to be Ahmed Elmohamady, who missed a glorious chance in the dying stages of the first half to level up the contest. He looked certain to divert a beautiful Quinn cross past Ben Hamer on the stroke of half time, but Elmohamady did not connect with the ball as well as he would have liked and his effort somehow ended up going over the bar.
Referee performance
Phil Dowd had a good game overall. He could, and perhaps should, have sent Konchesky off far earlier than he did after the left-back went through Elmohamady for a shortcut, and he did well to spot Quinn's cynical handball in the dying stages. 7/10 for Dowd this afternoon.
What next?
Hull City: Hull are back at The KC Stadium on Thursday to host Everton on New Year's Day.
Leicester City: Things do not get much easier for Leicester, however, as they kick off 2015 with a trip to Liverpool.
Shane Callaghan
