After neing knocked out of the Challenge Cup by archrivals
Hull KR, and then dropping to fourth in the table as a result of last nights
fixtures, Hull FC were looking for a crucial two points as they went on the
road to Cheshire to face the Warrington Wolves.
The home side were favourites for the win and had been
handicapped by fourteen points on the coupon, despite being two league places
below the visitors on the league table.
A win for Warrington would see them jump ahead of FC into
fourth, a win for the Black and Whites would put them back into second and crucially
see them trailing the red and white half of the city by a single league point.
It was a bright start for both teams, the game developing
into the arm wrestle that it promised on paper.
After an error from Matty Ashton under the high ball, FC
took full advantage from the scrum with Tom Briscoe taking a Jordan Rapana pass
to go over in the right corner on the overlap. Will Pryce was unable to add the
conversion.
Four minutes later, on fifteen, fortune favoured the brave
as a Cade Cust high kick towards the sticks was missed by the jumpers. hit Davy
Litten on the shins, dribbled over the line, and was grounded by the centre
under the sticks. This time Pryce hit the mark for a 10-0 lead.
The gap to the next Hull try was just five minutes, this
time the ball was moved through hands from the centre to the right, Briscoe
again finding space to go over in the corner. Pryce again missed the difficult
conversion attempt, but the visitors were good value for the lead.
A Wolves knock-on under their sticks on twenty-six gave Hull
a scrum ten out and was quickly followed by a penalty for offside. On the
second play Amir Bourouh was held up over the line and then to increase the
pressure Warrington knocked on in effecting a tackle.
The pressure finally told
on twenty-nine with Herman Ese’ese bulldozing over the line and stretching out
to score. Pryce added the conversion for a 20-0 lead. It was as good a first
half hour for Hull as they could have hoped for.
There was finally some joy for Warrington on thirty-five
when the skipper George Willims dipped his right shoulder to go through a gap
and lunge for the line. Marc Sneyd was wide with the conversion, the try just a
small dent in the big FC scoreline.
Ten seconds before the interval the visitors again got the
rub of the green as Litten chipped through from five metres, rebounded off Matt
Dufty into Litten’s hands for him to dive over and claim his second try of the
afternoon. Pryce added the conversion to give the Airlie Birds a 26-4 lead at
the interval.
On forty-five Hull’s Jack Ashworth was sin-binned for a late
tackle and three minutes later the Wolves nudged the door open again as Josh Thewlis
took a Williams miss-out pass to go over in the corner. Sneyd missed the
conversion, the margin still a mountain to climb for the home side.
A spectacular effort from Ashton on the hour mark, the
Wolves winger leaping for the left corner and grounding by the flag for a
spectacular try, but again from the most difficult of positions Sneyd was
unable to kick the conversion.
Twelve minutes from time Ashton grabbed his second of the
game after Paul Vaughan did all the work down the centre field before a Sneyd
kick was caught and passed by Currie to put the winger in, Sneyd was again wide
with the conversion, four missed on the afternoon for the usually accurate
kicker.
Warrington threw everything that they had at the Hull
defence in the closing stages but some last ditch defence kept them out as they
ran the clock down to a memorable victory. The final points of the game went to
Hull as Pryce kicked his fourth goal of the game after Warrington were offside
with seconds remaining, Hull’s only points of the second forty.
All the damage was done in the first half by a devastating
Hull FC and despite a decent second half fightback the mountain was just too
high for the Wolves to climb. The Black and Whites are back up to second in the
table and grabbing at Hull KR’s heels a point above them, the Wolves remain in
sixth spot, the last play-off position, with plenty to think about from a
mostly indifferent performance.
Warrington Wolves: Dufty, Thewlis (T), Currie, Tai, Ashton (2T),
Williams (T), Sneyd (G 0/4), Musgrove, Walker, Vaughan, Holroyd, Fitzgibbon,
Harrison. Subs: Powell, Yates, Philbin, Crowther. 18th Man: Ratchford.
Hull FC: Pryce (G 3/5), Briscoe (2T), Rapana, Litten (2T),
Martin, Cust, Sezer, Ese’ese (T), Bourouh, Knight, Hardaker, Chamberlain,
Asiata. Subs: Aydin, Ashworth (SB on 45), Moy, Eseh. 18th Man: Salabio.
Half-Time: 4-26.
Full-Time: 16-26.
Score Progression: 0-4, 0-8, 0-10, 0-14, 0-18, 0-20, 4-20,
4-24, 4-26 : HT: (SB), 8-26, 12-26,
16-26, 16-28 :FT.
Lead Exchanges: FC.
Referee: Aaron Moore.
