Hull City's Liam Rosenior believes former boss Wayne Rooney will turn Birmingham City around

The Hull City boss’s comments came after his team condemned Rooney’s Blues to a 2-0 defeat at St Andrew’s on Wednesday night – the second straight defeat for the former England international after he took over from John Eustace.

Liam Delap’s 12th-minute goal and a superb solo effort from Jaden Philogene made it a miserable St Andrew’s debut for Rooney, losing out to Rosenior who was his assistant when the two worked together at Derby County until last summer.

But Tigers’ boss Rosenior knows the quality his former boss possesses in the dugout and told Birmingham fans to bide their time.

“I’d be excited if I was a Birmingham fan because I worked with him for a long time. I know his qualities as a manager and a coach,” he said. “I ask for Birmingham fans to give him time because I know Wayne and he will get it completely right.

“He’s got so many qualities – when you had the intelligence Wayne had as a player and see how he sees the game, he’s top in the way he understands players, he makes players feel really confident in the way they play, but once he gets that time, I’m sure he will be successful.”

On his side’s deserved victory, which ended a four-match winless run, Rosenior added: “A legend has just walked into the club so we knew we had to take the sting out of the game.

“The first goal came from really good pressing that we worked on with Liam Delap, Scott Twine and Adama Traore. After that we had complete control.”