Hull City head coach Ruben Selles heaped praise on his players after their dramatic late fightback against Championship leaders Leeds United.

The hosts made a dream start, taking the lead in the fifth minute. Winger Abu Kamara, who apologised at a news conference yesterday after he posted some emojis on a post by a former Portsmouth team-mate in the aftermath of the Tigers' New Year's Day home defeat to Middlesbrough, calmly fired home after good work from Mason Burstow.

City midfielder Regan Slater then came within a whisker of doubling their lead, seeing his fierce effort hit the outside of the post.

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But the Championship leaders turned the screw in the second half. Creative midfielder Ao Tanaka restored parity in the 47th minute before Daniel James completed the turnaround just after the hour mark. Wales international James turned the ball home from close range to claim his sixth goal of the season. Joel Piroe grabbed his 10th goal of the season to put United 3-1 up.

However, the Tigers roared back and earned an important point in their battle for survival after goals from Joao Pedro and Kamara. "It feels like a perfect game and I am really happy for us," said Selles, whose side remain in the relegation zone. "I think the team is competitive and my experience against teams at the top we have to first analyse how we can win. Today we have shown a little extra at 3-1 down to get a point.

"We started the game strong and we tried to press them when we could. I think we continued to be ourselves and at half time they had chances and so did we. I think that goal (equaliser) put us on the back foot and then at 3-1 down we tried to get the feeling back. We managed that in the end."