Salford 20 Hull FC 28: Marc Sneyd ensures Hull FC finish top of the pile

Marc Sneyd's 12 points helped Hull FC beat Salford Red Devils on Friday night (
Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe). — Marc Sneyd's 12 points helped Hull FC beat Salford Red Devils on Friday night ( Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe).

But Salford made Hull fight all the way and led 20-18 until Sneyd went over for a try nine minutes from time.

Sneyd, who joined Hull from Salford last season, also kicked four goals from five attempts.

Hull led 12-6 at half-time with tries from Steve Michaels and Frank Pritchard, both converted by Sneyd.

The tries were sandwiched by a Michael Dobson effort for Salford with Gareth O’Brien landing a goal.

Salford turned in a battling second-half show with tries from Mason Caton-Brown, Niall Evalds and Robert Lui. But Hull secured the win and top place at the end of the regular season with late tries from Sneyd and Mahe Fonua.

Jordan Abdull and Curtis Naughton combining for Michaels to go over in the corner and Sneyd booted the conversion.

After 14 minutes Ellis lost the ball in a tackle and Dobson hacked on to touch down with O’Brien landing the goal.

Substitute Pritchard scored with his first touch of the ball after a scooting break by Houghton, with Sneyd adding the conversion to make it 12-6.

Hull certainly did not look as though they had an eye on next week’s Challenge Cup semi-final against Wigan.

MIchaels almost squeezed over in the corner to extend Hull’s lead, but Salford held the winger up over the line, to trail by six points at the break.

Abdull was also held up early in the second half, with both sides knowing the next score would be crucial.

Salford delighted their fans with smart handling from Dobson, Lui and O’Brien sending Caton-Brown over in the corner to cut the gap to 12-10 but O’Brien was off target with the difficult conversion attempt.

Hauraki cheekily stole the ball from Abdull to thwart another dangerous Hull attack but there was no stopping Green on the hour when he blasted through to make it 18-10.

Salford refused to concede defeat and it was no surprise when Evalds shot over after 67 minutes with O’Brien’s conversion reducing the deficit to two points.

Then Lui followed his own delicate chip to score in the corner and fire Salford ahead for the first time, making it 20-18.

But Sneyd broke through Dobson’s tackle to put his side back ahead, with his conversion making it 24-20, before Fonua finished the job.

ends