The Tigers' five-game unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with a 4-1 defeat to Sunderland in their Barclays Premier League match at the KC Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Nick Barmby had brought City level after Steed Malbranque had given the Black Cats an early lead, but a second half which was dominated almost exclusively by the poor performance of referee Mike Riley, who sent off Sam Ricketts, helped the visitors canter to victory.
With Paul McShane unavailable, Phil Brown was forced to make one change to his starting line-up.
Richard Garcia came into the side with Bernard Mendy dropping to right back.
Garcia's place on the bench was taken by Nathan Doyle.
Meanwhile, goalkeeper Matt Duke returned on the bench, taking the place of Tony Warner.
Sunderland, with Ricky Sbragia in caretaker charge for his second game following the recent departure of Roy Keane, started with Kenwyne Jones and Djibril Cisse up front.
Club captain Dean Whitehead was included on the bench.
Barmby had an early sight of goal when Nyron Nosworthy's poor header dropped into his path, but he fired wide from 20 yards.
Sunderland took the lead in the tenth minute with their first shot on goal.
Steed Malbranque was given time and space to pick his spot and he made no mistake, firing home from 20 yards.
George Boateng was struggling in midfield and he picked up a yellow card on 16 minutes after deliberately pulling back Jones on the halfway line.
The Tigers levelled on 19 minutes.
A long free kick was delivered deep into Sunderland territory.
Kamil Zayatte flicked the ball on for Michael Turner, who saw his shot at full stretch blocked by goalkeeper Marton Fulop.
Turner managed to keep the ball alive and when it fell for Barmby, he fired home low into the net from ten yards.
Barmby was almost in again three minutes later, sneaking in behind the defence, but his shot was blocked.
City were enjoying a good spell and when Geovanni and Mendy worked a short corner, the former saw his near post effort saved by Fulop.
From City's next corner in the 25th minute, which was returned from the far post by Marlon King, Turner headed just over.
A clever ball from Barmby then set King up with a shooting chance, but he blazed high and wide from the angle of the box.
A foul on King gave City a free kick 25 yards out in the 33rd minute.
Geovanni took it and only a superb save from Fulop prevented the ball from finding the top corner.
From the resulting corner, Fulop flapped at Geovanni's delivery, but he was helped out by the referee, who awarded a free kick for a foul on the goalkeeper.
Malbranque had a great chance for the visitors six minutes before half time, but after latching onto a flick from Jones he dragged his shot wide.
Half Time: Tigers 1-1 Sunderland
After a fascinating first 45 minutes, the second half got away to a slow start.
City made a change on 57 minutes with Daniel Cousin replacing Garcia.
That resulted in Barmby moving out to the right with Cousin partnering King in attack.
A minute later, Boaz Myhill made his first save of the afternoon, beating away Kieran Richardson's fierce effort.
Ian Ashbee saw his volley deflected wide for a City corner in the 61st minute, but Fulop unconvincingly dealt with King's ball into the box.
Sunderland went close three minutes later when Cisse crossed for Jones, but Turner got in front of his man to stab the ball wide.
City's second change came on 68 minutes with Stelios replacing Barmby on the right.
It was the Greek's first appearance at the KC Stadium since signing in September.
Richardson was booked three minutes later for a foul on Mendy, although it was the first time Mike Riley had pleased the home fans in the second half following a string of generous decisions in the visitors' favour.
City had a goal ruled out on 74 minutes when Cousin fired home from Geovanni's cross, but the celebrations were cut short by the flag of the assistant referee.
Sadly for Cousin, it was the correct decision.
Ricketts was the next player to be booked following a foul on Malbranque.
Myhill was called into action in the 77th minute when Sunderland broke away down the left, the goalkeeper parrying Cisse's shot away.
But just a minute later, Sunderland went back in front.
Richardson picked up possession and firing goalwards.
The ball took a wicked deflection off Zayatte to leave Myhill stranded.
It got worse for City in the 81st minute when Ricketts was shown a second yellow for a tackle in front of the East Stand.
Riley couldn't wait to show his red card, the fifth time he's done so in his last two games at the KC Stadium.
Peter Halmosi replaced Boateng as City went in search of a goal, but they were leaving gaps at the back and Sunderland exploited them to 3-1 up with five minutes to go, Jones heading home from close range following Malbranque's right-wing cross.
King was then booked for no apparent reason.
Riley had lost all control over the game.
Sunderland made it 4-1 in added time, breaking away after a misplaced pass by Mendy, with Cisse firing home.
Tigers (4-4-1-1) Boaz Myhill; Bernard Mendy, Michael Turner, Kamil Zayatte, Sam Ricketts; Richard Garcia (Cousin 57), Ian Ashbee [captain], George Boateng (Halmosi 81), Nick Barmby (Stelios 68); Geovanni; Marlon King.
Subs: Matt Duke, Nathan Doyle, Dean Marney, Stelios, Peter Halmosi, Daniel Cousin, Dean Windass.
Bookings: Boateng 16, Ricketts, 76, Ricketts 81, King 85.
Sent-Off: Rickets 81 (second bookable offence).
Sunderland (4-4-2) Marton Fulop; Phil Bardsley, Nyron Nosworthy, Anton Ferdinand, Danny Collins; Steed Malbranque, Teemu Tainio (Leadbitter 79), Kieran Richardson (Edwards 89), Andy Reid (Whitehead 75); Djibril Cisse, Kenwyne Jones.
Subs: Nick Colgan, Dean Whitehead, Carlos Edwards, Daryl Murphy, Grant Leadbitter, Dwight Yorke, David Healy.
Bookings: Richardson 71.
With his first goal of the season, Nick Barmby became the fourth player to score in the Premier League for six different clubs. He joins Les Ferdinand, Andrew Cole and Marcus Bent.
The attendance of 24,917 becomes the highest for a Hull City game at the KC Stadium. The previous record was 24,912 for the visit of Middlesbrough earlier in the month.
