Karlan Grant bags brace as Steve Bruce claims first West Brom win at Hull

Steve Bruce claimed his first victory as West Brom manager as Karlan Grant scored a brace in a 2-0 Sky Bet Championship win at Hull.

Bruce has had a difficult start since he replaced Valerien Ismael in early February, with his five previous league games having yielded just one point and one goal.

But once Grant scored after 17 minutes – a goal they deserved following a pioneering start to the match – a West Brom team clearly lacking confidence was reborn.

Hull were admittedly compliant hosts and conceded a second goal after 48 minutes when Taylor Gardner-Hickman was fouled by Jacob Greaves inside the penalty area.

Grant sent goalkeeper Matt Ingram the wrong way with a cool spot-kick that essentially put the game to bed.

Thirteenth-placed West Brom still require snookers to creep into the play-offs.

And though this was not a pitch-perfect performance, Bruce – forever remembered as Hull’s greatest manager for twice gaining promotion to the Premier League – finally has momentum.

Surely inspired by last weekend’s 3-0 win at Peterborough – and keen to capitalise upon the visitors’ recent demise – the Tigers should have started with greater intent.

They were, though, strangely passive for much of the game, most notably early on when a brisk West Brom team was determined to control possession from the outset.

Bruce’s men might even have scored after 11 minutes had it not been for Ingram’s smart stop off former Hull player Conor Townsend.

Hull, poor in possession and lacking energy through the middle throughout, were not so lucky six minutes later.

Alex Mowatt’s cross from the right was inviting, yet the hosts allowed Grant too much space to score a simple goal.

Grant’s strike failed to arouse Hull from their slumber until the