Agar delighted at Hull FC comeback

Hull had looked dead and buried after 48 minutes, with Francis Meli's maiden four-try haul in the English gave giving the Saints what seemed to be an unassailable 26-6 lead.

But the home side whipped the majority of a 13,300 crowd into frenzy as they posted four unanswered tries to lay the platform for Tickle's match-winning intervention.

"It was always going to be tough, but we said at half-time that it was a game of momentum," said Agar. "We started well and then had a flurry of possession against us and that's what you can get with Saints.

"We didn't have that much to fix up and just needed to be a bit more patient. I thought that once we got a try we got some momentum and robbed it really well. We blasted them on possession.

"It was a great game and both teams came to play. We can take belief and confidence and our character and composure came through at the end."

Agar also revealed that captain Sean Long, a St Helens legend after trophy-laden 12-year spell with the club, very nearly missed the game because of illness.

As it was, the 33-year-old scrum-half pulled through and helped his men to a league double over the Saints.

"Sean has been ill and we had to get as much fluid into him as we could," Agar said. "He caught it off his kids and up until 12 today we weren't sure if he would play. He's the man for those sort of occasions."

Saints boss Mick Potter was phlegmatic watching his side capitulate in the second-half.

The loss of England forward James Roby, who left the field after being knocked out in a collision, seemed to affect the visitors, but Potter felt that Hull's weight of possession was the key factor.

"There was no real turning point. The weight of possession told," he said.

"We handled the loss of Roby okay, we got tired in the middle but the possession knocked us out in the end.

"The other team had double the possession we had for various reasons.

"I thought our effort was as good as we could have given. If we had our time again we would do a couple of things a little different. The effort and toughness was second to none and they can hold their heads up."