Hull have climbed up to eighth in the Championship table after Dean Windass' first-half goal gave them a 1-0 home win over Sheffield Wednesday.As a result of Windass' stunning 33rd-minute effort at the KC Stadium on Sunday, Phil Brown's Tigers are now four games unbeaten and sit just one point shy of a play-off position, and they will travel to Stoke on New Year's Day full of confidence.

The same cannot be said of Wednesday. This reverse means Brian Laws' men have now gone six games without a win and they have failed to leapfrog Scunthorpe out of the relegation zone.

They could surely have no complaints too as, Akpo Sodje's effort that struck the post apart, they failed to create any noteworthy chances.

Hull were little better in their attacking display but had enough quality when they needed it, and in Windass they had the match winner.

The 38-year-old had only been on the field for nine minutes when he scored from a 30-yard free-kick for his eighth goal of the season.

He had started on the bench but replaced the injured Frazier Campbell after 24 minutes.

The game began with a minute's applause in respect of Motherwell captain Phil O'Donnell who spent four years with the Owls.

Windass's goal apart, the first half was all about Caleb Folan. The Hull striker was the main source of danger on either side, with his strong running and touch consistently giving him the upper hand over the visiting defence.

Folan and Campbell had combined for the majority of the game's highlights prior to the opener, with both finding themselves one on one with goalkeeper Lee Grant, only for the Wednesday defence to recover and force them wide.

In the instance of Campbell, he was still able to fashion a chance for Richard Garcia, but the winger was only able to stub his effort against Tommy Spurr.

Garcia also had a fanciful effort deflected over by Spurr and Bryan Hughes curled an effort round the post before Windass struck.

Typically, it came after Spurr hacked down Folan as he advanced towards the area and, with it looking as though Andy Dawson would deliver the free-kick, Windass whipped a right-footed effort beyond the reach of Grant and into the top corner.

If Laws was unhappy with his side's first-half showing, then his mood would not have been helped two minutes after the restart.

Sodje out-paced Wayne Brown and was unlucky to see his snap-shot cannon off the post but, rather than follow-up, Sodje had already run away to celebrate and missed a chance to pounce on the rebound.

On the whole though, Wednesday were performing better and had five minutes of good pressure without creating any chances.

They were soon given a reality check when Grant was forced to save well from Folan's header.

Disappointingly, Wednesday's challenge soon subsided and Hull could have stretched their lead had Ian Ashbee not scuffed his shot wide when well placed just inside the area.

Windass and Folan also nudged headers wide as Hull began to look comfortable, but Boaz Myhill stayed alert enough to make a superb save from Francis Jeffers with just two minutes remaining.

Jeffers closed in on goal from a tight angle, but Myhill, in his only action of the game, was able to get down and block his effort with his legs.

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