Two goals from Henrik Pedersen on his home league debut helped the Tigers to a 3-1 win against Ipswich Town at the KC Stadium.
Wayne Brown scored the other as City claimed a much needed three points.
All the goals came in the first half, but it wasn't as comfortable as the scoreline might suggest as Ipswich dominated large parts of the opening 45 minutes.
Phil Brown made four changes to the side that lost to Chelsea in midweek with Andy Dawson, Richard Garcia, Dean Marney and Dean Windass all returning to action.
Pedersen was handed his first league start for the club, while the likes of Damien Delaney and Bryan Hughes were included on the bench.
For Ipswich, former Tiger Jon Walters started on the right wing.
Ipswich created the first opportunity of the game on six minutes when Gary Roberts was played in, but Boaz Myhill made a good save with his legs.
The visitors went close again moments later when Tommy Miller's low shot from 20 yards came back off the post.
Despite the early pressure, it was the Tigers who took the lead on ten minutes. Jay-Jay Okocha worked a short corner with Marney and when the Nigerian crossed, he found Pedersen in acres of space and he headed past Neil Alexander for his first City goal.
Ipswich were soon back on the attack when Walters got inside Dawson and pulled the ball back to Pablo Counago, whose deflected effort brought a smart save from Myhill.
Soon after, Walters went close with a shot from the angle of the box, the ball drifting wide of the far post.
Ipswich hit the post for a second time in the 20th minute when Owen Garvan's low shot across Myhill struck the upright.
Michael Turner's timely interception prevented Counago having a simple tap-in as Ipswich's domination continued.
Pedersen had a good chance to double City's lead just before the half-hour mark after he was set up by Windass, but the Dane's shot was well off target from inside the box.
The next time Pedersen had a chance, he made no mistake. Five minutes before half time, Windass played the Dane in with a superb ball and he fired a first time effort past Alexander from 16 yards.
Pedersen almost completed a hat-trick moments later after some wizardry from Okocha, but his shot was deflected wide.
From the corner, City went 3-0 up. Okocha again worked a short routine before crossing for Wayne Brown to glance the ball into the net via the far post.
But any thoughts of a comfortable win were soon extinguished as Ipswich pulled a goal back just before the break. Some neat passing on the edge of City's box resulted in the ball falling for Dan Harding, who lashed a shot past Myhill from 20 yards.
Half Time: Tigers 3-1 Ipswich
It was a slow start to the second half, but Okocha won City a corner ten minutes when his shot was deflected wide. The Nigerian delivered, but a combination of Turner and Windass contrived to miss the target at the far post.
Pedersen then set up a chance for Garcia, but he blasted over from 14 yards.
Some enterprising play from Sam Ricketts almost set Windass up before Pedersen's cross from the left was just too far ahead of Garcia.
City then made their first change, bringing Stephen McPhee on in place of Windass. That was soon followed by Pedersen leaving the field to a standing ovation to be replaced by Hughes.
The final change came with 12 minutes remaining as David Livermore came on for Okocha.
Hughes came close to adding to the scoreline on 81 minutes when he got on the end of Garcia's deep cross, but his header went into the side netting.
That was the final chance of the game as the Tigers held on comfortably to take the three points.
Tigers (4-4-1-1) Boaz Myhill; Sam Ricketts, Michael Turner, Wayne Brown, Andy Dawson; Richard Garcia, Dean Marney, Ian Ashbee [captain], Henrik Pedersen (Hughes 67); Jay-Jay Okocha (Livermore 78); Dean Windass (McPhee 65).
Subs: Matt Duke, Damien Delaney, David Livermore, Bryan Hughes, Stephen McPhee.
Bookings: Nil
Ipswich Town (4-4-2) Neil Alexander; Chris Casement, Alex Bruce, Jason De Vos [captain], Dan Harding; Jon Walters, Tommy Miller (Legwinski 86), Owen Garvan, Gary Roberts (Haynes 58); Pablo Counago, Alan Lee (Peters 65).
Subs: Shane Supple, Fabian Wilnis, Jamie Peters, Danny Haynes, Sylvain Legwinski.
Bookings: Nil
This game kicked-off early at 12.30pm due to Hull FC playing a Super League Play-Off game against Wigan Warriors at the KC Stadium later in the day. It kicked-off at 7.00pm.
