Hull City recovered from conceding the opening goal to beat Oxford United at MKM Stadium and move five points clear of the Championship relegation zone.

Michal Helik's well-struck volley from a Matt Phillips corner looked to have put Oxford on course for only a second league win away from home this season.

However, their winless Championship run was extended to nine games as Hull responded quickly to that setback and netted twice in four second-half minutes to secure victory.

Joe Gelhardt collected Kasey Palmer's pass to equalise from close range, before Gustavo Puerta's shot from a tight angle went in via the post and Oxford goalkeeper Jamie Cumming.

The visitors almost grabbed a point late on, but Przemyslaw Placheta's looping volley from 25 yards hit the crossbar and bounced clear.

Puerta was shown a second yellow card for simulation in stoppage time and was sent off, but Hull played for only a few seconds with 10 men before the full-time whistle blew.

The win took the Tigers above Oxford in the table and left Gary Rowett's team four points above third-from-bottom Derby.

However, midweek wins for all of the bottom three sides - the Rams, Luton and Plymouth - have tightened things up at the foot of the second tier.

Both captains went close to scoring in a goalless first half, with Hull's Lewie Coyle volleying just wide of the post and visiting skipper Elliott Moore nodding wide from Phillips' free-kick.

Moore limped off injured after an hour, although his team-mates found themselves in front shortly afterwards thanks to fellow centre-back Helik, who scored his second goal in 11 appearances since joining from League One side Huddersfield in January.

The Poland international was the Terriers' leading scorer in the Championship last season with nine goals and he produced an assured finish from 12 yards to open the scoring.

Gelhardt had looked Hull's most likely scorer for much of the game, forcing a low save from Cumming before half-time and then firing over from Abu Kamara's neat cutback after the interval.

Following Gelhardt's leveller, Puerta's effort found its way in from an almost impossible angle for the winner.

His evening would end slightly prematurely, however, with referee Josh Smith deeming he had gone over too easily in the penalty area, despite contact by an Oxford defender.

Hull boss Ruben Selles, speaking to BBC Radio Humberside:

"Oxford is a good opponent and it was difficult to break them in the first half.

"The goal came when we were just about to make substitutions, but I think our substitutions were brilliant.

"The game completely changed when we had the unpredictability of Kasey [Palmer], Mason [Burstow] on the left side giving us something different and Regan [Slater] in the middle.

"We fought really hard, it's always difficult to win those games but I'm proud of the character that the team showed."

Oxford boss Gary Rowett, speaking to BBC Radio Oxford:

"I'm really angry if I'm being honest because, quite frankly, we've thrown the game away. That's how it feels.

"It felt like an incredible opportunity, at 1-0, to win the game. It took a lot of hard work to get there. I don't think we necessarily started as well as we wanted to, we were a little bit passive early in the game but we grew into the game.

"We got ourselves into a good position and, when you do that, you've got to protect the goal and the lead with your life. Earlier on in my tenure we were doing that, but today we allowed two very soft goals.

"Unfortunately, if you're going to play with that sort of naivety in the Championship, you're going to make it a very difficult end to the season.

"I'm just frustrated because we've gone from a position of winning games, seeing those moments out and looking very solid, to feeling like we've got more to give, we're not quite giving it and I'm not quite sure why.

"That's probably the harshest I've been with the players in the dressing room and it really does feel as though we've thrown something away today."