ACUN ILICALI’S reign as new Hull owner began with a determined 2-0 victory against third-placed Blackburn.

Former Cork City defender Sean McLoughlin — Hull’s player of the month for December — put in another solid performance as he completed 90 minutes and picked up a clean sheet at the heart of a three-man defence.

Another Irishman, Darragh Lenihan, featured from the outset for Blackburn, while James Brown made the bench after recently signing from Drogheda.

The Turkish businessman Ilicali completed his £20million takeover of the Sky Bet Championship side on Wednesday afternoon and was unveiled in front of an enthusiastic crowd before kick-off.

Ilicali will have been most impressed by Hull’s brave victory over in-form opponents – especially once George Honeyman opened the scoring after eight minutes.

Tom Eaves then headed home a second with 67 minutes gone against a Blackburn side that looked a fallow imitation of the team that has powered into the frame for promotion.

Rovers, previously unbeaten in the league since November 3, were strangely passive for most of the match.

And they were initially punished for such a lethargic approach to the game when centre-back McLoughlin sent a speculative long ball into their penalty area.

Eaves did well to keep the football in play, but Ryan Longman did even better to send into the box a smart, low cross.

Honeyman’s first touch deceived Scott Wharton – perhaps a little too easily – with the former Sunderland midfielder following up with a deft strike that was rightly adjudged to have crossed the goalline.

Blackburn manager Tony Mowbray must have been disappointed by his side’s rather tepid response to that early setback.

That said, they still had a strong shout for a penalty after 25 minutes when Di’Shon Bernard appeared to bundle over Ben Brereton Diaz inside the box.

Referee Thomas Bramall instead waved play-on.

Bernard saved Hull with an excellent goal-line clearance after 37 minutes.

Reda Khadra initially outpaced the Manchester United loan signing and had time and space to score once goalkeeper Nathan Baxter misjudged the flight of a long ball.

Khadra’s strike was on target, but Bernard showed impressive athleticism to deflect the ball away for a corner, which came to nothing.

Blackburn marginally improved in an open second half, but Baxter was rarely tested and Hull remained a threat on the break.

Indeed, the hosts should have made it 2-0 on the hour when Longman flashed Randell Williams’ corner wide – when it seemed easier to score.

Longman soon made amends when he sent a high cross towards the back post which was calmly headed home by Eaves.

The game should then have been out of sight for Hull after Wharton made an awful hash of a speculative Williams cross from the left when he chested the ball straight to Honeyman.

Honeyman’s close-range effort was brilliantly tipped onto the crossbar by Thomas Kaminski.

Keane Lewis-Potter’s follow-up was closer to the nearby River Humber than the back of the net.

Blackburn looked beaten and Lewis-Potter nearly added further gloss when he screwed a swerving shot fractionally wide late on.

Elsewhere, relegation-threatened Reading suffered a further setback when they were beaten 2-0 by Luton at the SCL Stadium.

Dublin-born wing-back Peter Kioso completed 90 minutes for the visitors, having only just returned to the Championship club yesterday after a successful loan spell at MK Dons.

It was just the 22-year-old’s fifth Championship appearance in total for Luton, having represented the club three times back in August.

Additional reporting by Paul Fennessy