Ruben Selles hailed the reaction he got from Ryan Longman after the winger scored the winner at Blackburn as a substitute.
Longman had been taken off after 55 minutes of the Boxing Day defeat at Preston North End and started on the bench at Ewood Park before going on to score his first Tigers goal in over two years.
Selles told BBC Radio Humberside: "Ryan was very upset after the last game because he didn't have a very good game and wanted to make a point going onto the pitch.
"It was not only the goal, he was all over the place running, pressing, getting people one-on-one, commanding the team, running back - that's the kind of mentality we need.