Kevin Phillips produced two moments of Premier League quality to take West Brom back to the top of the Coca-Cola Championship.

Phillips' 16th goal of the season broke the deadlock, and the 34-year-old then set up the second for James Morrison to give the visitors a commanding half-time lead.

Hull hit back with a superb strike from Richard Garcia, and West Brom were reduced to 10 men with 17 minutes remaining after the dismissal of Paul Robinson.

However, substitute Roman Bednar scored a breakaway goal to seal the points at the end of the contest.

With Watford and Bristol City dropping points earlier in the day, West Brom knew they would return to the top of the table if they could avoid a third consecutive league defeat on the road.

And the visitors caught Hull on the break to get off to a terrific start.

Ishmael Miller's clever lay-off released Chris Brunt down the left, and Phillips met the winger's pinpoint cross by stroking the ball past Boaz Myhill from eight yards.

Hull tried to hit back immediately, but Dean Kiely did well to smother a shot on the turn from Dean Windass.

Although Hull were enjoying most of the territory and possession, the visitors came close to a second goal when Brunt's corner was headed just over by Robinson from four yards.

Hull continued to press and Caleb Folan backheeled Garcia's cross straight at Dean Kiely before the unmarked Ian Ashbee wastefully headed over Dean Marney's free-kick.

Miller then fired straight at Myhill after beating the offside trap, and the same player saw a looping header tipped over minutes later.

However, Hull's defence succumbed 13 minutes before the break as West Brom doubled their advantage.

Phillips was this time the provider as he cut Hull's defence in half by playing in Morrison, who poked the ball into the bottom right corner from 12 yards.

Hull came desperately close in the closing stages of the half, with Kiely producing a fine double-save to thwart Ashbee and Garcia, before Garcia's follow-up shot was cleared off the line.

A long throw from Sam Ricketts in the opening seconds of the second half caused confusion in the away defence, but Folan just failed to force the ball home from point-blank range.

At the other end, Myhill clung on to Phillips' curling effort from 18 yards and Miller's deflected shot dropped just wide.

Hull manager Phil Brown brought on strikers Nick Barmby and Fraizer Campbell, and the former was denied by Kiely just moments after coming on.

However, just as the game seemed to be drifting away from Hull, the hosts halved the deficit.

Garcia cut in from the right, exchanged passes with Ricketts, and beat Kiely with a tremendous left-footed shot into the top-left corner from 20 yards.

Moments later West Brom suffered another blow when Robinson, who had been booked for a first half foul on Garcia, was sent off for a late challenge on Campbell.

However, Hull never really looked like taking advantage of their numerical advantage, and Bednar raced clear to fire a right-footed shot under Myhill from the edge of the area deep into stoppage-time.

Teams:

Hull Myhill, Ricketts, Turner, Brown, Delaney (France 82),Garcia, Ashbee, Marney (Campbell 54), Hughes, Folan,Windass (Barmby 59).

Subs Not Used: Doyle, Collins.

Booked: Windass, Delaney.

Goals: Garcia 71.

West Brom Kiely, Hoefkens, Barnett, Pele, Robinson, Morrison,Koren, Greening, Brunt (Gera 67), Phillips (Cesar 76),Miller (Bednar 76).

Subs Not Used: Steele, Filipe Teixeira.

Sent Off: Robinson (74).

Booked: Robinson.

Goals: Phillips 2, Morrison 32, Bednar 90.

Att: 18,391

Ref: Colin Webster (Tyne & Wear).