Hughes' men produced a superb attacking performance to leap out of the Barclays Premier League relegation zone with a 5-1 win at Eastlands.

Brazilian star Robinho was outstanding and hit two goals after Felipe Caicedo had set up victory with an early double of his own.

Craig Fagan netted a late consolation for the outclassed Tigers but Stephen Ireland reasserted the hosts' dominance with their fifth.

The victory lifted considerably the pressure on under-fire Hughes, who immediately challenged his players to deliver more consistently.

The former Blackburn boss, who faces his old side on Sunday, said: "That is what was needed.

"We needed to get our noses in front, that settled us down almost immediately and from that point onwards some of our attacking play was as good as we have produced this year.

"Obviously being on the front foot, the quality of our attacking play is there for all to see.

"But what we haven't been able to do is produce that on a consistent basis. Now we have to make sure we do that from this point onwards.

"We have had occasions in recent weeks where we have disappointed.

"We have got quality in the side but collective errors, individual errors haven't allowed us to play with the freedom with have today.

"The levels that you need to hit to win Premier League games haven't been there in some games but today we hit those levels and when we play well we are an exciting team to watch."

While the gloom starts to lift at Eastlands after only their second win in 10 games, defeat will cast a shadow over Hull, who have had a chastening week.

Phil Brown's side have now conceded nine goals in their past two games to undermine their bright start to the season.

Brown was embarrassed enough by his side's first-half capitulation to deliver some of his half-time talk on the field and his players received more harsh words afterwards.

Brown said: "Our mentality was just not there, it was wrong.

"We gifted them a first goal and we then went to gift them a second, a third and a fourth.

"It was unacceptable behaviour, an unacceptable performance from a Phil Brown side and I am bitterly disappointed, to say the least."

On his on-field half-time talk, he said: "I thought it was nice and cold and I thought I would keep the boys alive because they looked as if they were dead.

"Let's not read too much into it but I think 3,500-4,000 travelling fans deserved some kind of explanation for the first-half performance and it was difficult for me to do that from the confines of a changing room.

"For people to arrange their Christmasses and Boxing Days around a game of football, I think we owe them an apology for the first-half performance."