Burton boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was delighted with his side as they upset the form book to snatch all three points from promotion-chasing Hull, courtesy of Jonny Smith’s debut goal.

The deadline-day signing from Bristol City stepped off the bench in the second half to have the only two on-target attempts of the whole game.

And the second of those proved to be the winner, as he calmly controlled Josh Parker’s ball to the edge of the box before slotting past Hull keeper George Long in the 90th minute.

“There are a lot of smiles in the dressing room right now,” said Hasselbaink. “They worked extremely hard and I have to say it was a well-deserved win.

“We were the team that deserved the three points and we didn’t give a chance away. Our goalkeeper had no saves to make.

“Yes, they hit the bar but that was a shot from outside the box. But when you look at the game overall, we were magnificent and now the players are very happy and deservedly so.”

Hasselbaink praised Smith and was also pleased for the provider of the chance, Parker, who had earlier missed a great chance to break the deadlock when he missed the target from inside the six-yard box.

“Jonny took it really well,” Hasselbaink said.

“We had the biggest chance of the game before with Josh Parker when he missed, but we didn’t dwell on it and we kept on going.

“We found that chance at going into the space and the boy finished it really well.”

For Hull boss Grant McCann it was one of those frustrating afternoons and he pulled no punches.

“We just weren’t good enough,” he said. “We lacked any sort of killer instinct about us today.

“Things were petering out in the final third and we didn’t look like scoring at all. The movement wasn’t good enough and the cleverness around the box wasn’t good enough.

“When we did cross the ball then it got blocked or hit the first man, and when we shot it went over the crossbar. That is unlike us because we have been really good at those aspects this season.

“Today we have come unstuck with not taking any sort of chance that came our way and then getting punished off a mistake, and that is why we have lost the game.

“Today is not what we have come to expect from this group this year. I told them in the dressing room that if you are not going to win the game, make sure you don’t lose it. But we switched off from a loose ball from Reece [Burke] and one ball in behind our back four, and it’s one of those days for us.”