Former Aston Villa midfielder hails Hull City star as Tigers spark season into life

Former Aston Villa player Lee Hendrie has hailed the impact of Liam Millar and Regan Slater after the pair played a pivotal role in helping Hull City come from a goal down to beat Stoke City 3-1 on Friday night.

Without a win anywhere since April 24, City looked to be on course for a third straight loss in the Championship when Ben Wilmot crashed in a first half header, and it took until just after the hour for Tim Walter's men to finally find a goal.

Kasey Palmer's penalty was saved by goalkeeper Viktor Johansson before he nodded in the rebound, and then Millar turned provider for Slater to slam in the second before Palmer's tight cross squirmed in off Wilmot and then Johnasson two minutes later to complete the turnaround and seal a huge win for Walter.

READ MORE: What Hull City owner Acun Ilicali did at full time after Hull City's pivotal win at Stoke City

It was the half-time arrival of Millar for the injured Omur which made a big difference for City, while Slater's introduction just before the hour along with Xavier Simons added further to their dominance, and that impressed Hendrie.

"I thought Hull were excellent in the second half, they came out with a renewed purpose in their play," Hendrie said. "The change in personnel - Liam Millar was at the heart of breaking that down, his pass that's tried to play through the eye of the needle for me, but credit to Liam Millar, look the run here (Belloumi on the outside), it's absolutely brilliant, it's what I talk about good wide players making little runs that just occupy two players and it all opens up for Regan Slater.

"His (Slater) first touch wasn't great but the run from Belloumi does kind of make this goal, and the strike, it's absolutely well executed. I'm a big fan of Regan Slater and when he came on, not just the goal, he did make an impact in those forward areas. Him and Liam Millar were absolutely excellent.

"Liam Millar must have had so much of the ball in that second half, and that's why I felt he was instrumental in them going and winning the match, getting key players high up the pitch and in the second half, they sort of blew Stoke away, particularly when they got that first goal, it was just Stoke laid down and didn't lay a glove on them."

Former Tiger Jake Livermore, meanwhile, was impressed with the way City pushed higher up the pitch and looked to impose themselves on the hosts, who found the going increasingly tough in the second period.

"They looked like a different team in the second half, they looked a lot more direct, they looked like they had a focus on getting forward, putting balls in the box, getting shots on target and playing football in the right areas which is going to be massive for them as a team going forward," Livermore explained.

"They're playing football in better areas now and this sort of thing (the third goal) happens when you're this far up the pitch. We saw that a little bit more and in the first half, we touched on them being very cagey and taking chances in the defensive area because they want to play through the lines, but I felt in that second half, defenders weren't taking as many chances. They were playing, rather than the short passes they're known for this season, maybe a bit of a longer pass into one of the wider areas."