Hull FC 20 Warrington Wolves 20: Gentle is left frustrated as Hull spurn the chance to beat Wolves

However, everyone at the KC Stadium is expecting more under the command of new head coach Peter Gentle and, for large spells yesterday, there was enough here to suggest they may actually achieve that in the year ahead.

With a performance rich in character and purpose, the outstanding Danny Tickle and Danny Houghton proving the heartbeat, they pushed title favourites Warrington to the edge and really should have come away with an opening-day victory.

It was just disappointing, therefore, that some of their old nagging frailties returned to ruin so much of the encouraging endeavour.

In the end, after Rhys Evans had squeezed over in the corner, Hull were left holding their breath as Warrington’s Ben Westwood lined up a touchline conversion to win the game with barely a minute remaining.

It fell short and they survived but Gentle was understandably still left downbeat.

“It was a point lost and we’re very disappointed,” said the ex-Wests Tigers assistant.

“We shot ourselves in the foot too many times with our completion and put too much pressure on ourselves.

“I’ve always got confidence this side has got potential and we took a step towards fulfilling that (yesterday).

“Our defence is improving and they are really going to take pride in that – Warrington are a very good side – but we’ve got a fair bit of work still to do.”

The manner in which Hull conceded the crucial try at the end will have hurt them – the sauntering full-back Wade McKinnon lost the ball while returning a kick from his own 20m – but they truly gifted Warrington two others as well.

Some clever interplay from Andy Lynch and Willie Manu allowed Kirk Yeaman to dive over down the blindside and give Hull a perfect start after just three minutes.

However, soon after an embarrassing misplaced pass behind their own line was coughed up into the welcoming hands of Trent Waterhouse and, after the hosts had drawn level on 35 minutes, they self-destructed again.

This time Joe Westerman failed to take possession of the kick-off and a huge hole emerged for the scheming scrum-half Richie Myler to send Simon Grix cruising through untouched from 20m.

Such blemishes really hurt the hosts who had shrugged off the loss of star signing Brett Seymour – the scrum-half underwent minor knee surgery on Saturday morning – and Wigan capture Eamon O’Carroll who suffered a back injury in training.

Warrington had their own selection issues although they proved self-inflicted with talisman Lee Briers dropped for disciplinary reasons.

Myler effortlessly took over Briers’s attacking mantle, though, slipping through Waterhouse to set up Rhys Williams in the 13th minute, and it seemed like the aggressive and slick visitors might open up further. However, Hull scrambled well and then pressed themselves only to be met by Warrington’s famous defence; Houghton almost dummied over, Lynch was then held up by Ryan Atkins before Will Sharp was somehow, debatably, bundled into the corner flag.

Tickle, the driving second-row, finally breached them though, latching onto a perfect cut-out pass from hooker Houghton, who was at his industrious best throughout.

Tickle converted only for Westerman’s gaffe – compounded by Westwood’s conversion – to leave Hull trailing 16-10 at the break. They were also thankful of a brilliant cover tackle from Richard Horne to deny the effervescent Myler.

It was Horne who created Hull’s contentious third try two minutes after the re-start, Tom Briscoe getting to his high kick above Evans, although there seemed to be in-decision between the various officials about its legitimacy.

Tickle could not convert but did so when he put his side back in the ascendancy on 55 minutes, storming onto another cleverly disguised pass from Houghton for his second.

Houghton thwarted Westwood with a quality tackle before Chris Riley marginally denied Tony Martin a debut try.

That saw Hull earn a drop out and, with five minutes remaining, they should have closed out the match.

However, they forced an unnecessary pass and allowed Warrington that reprieve.

Wolves coach Tony Smith refused to use jet-lag as an excuse for his side’s scratchy performance – they only arrived back from a three-week training trip to Australia on Monday – but was scathing of some of the officials’ indecision regarding Briscoe’s try.

“We’ve just got back from Australia and the biggest difference between the two games is the inconsistencies of our rulings,” he said.

“We’re absolutely all over the place here. Over there all games have got video referees.

“Now I can’t stand them, but at least they’ve got them there to adjudicate and we don’t have touch judges saying yes and refs saying something else.”

Hull FC: McKinnon; Sharp, Martin, Yeaman, Briscoe; Horne, Nicklas; O’Meley, Houghton, Lynch, Manu, Tickle, Westerman. Substitutes: Moa, Turner, Whiting, Aspinwall.

Warrington: Riley; Evans, Bridge, Atkins, Williams; Ratchford, Myler; Morley, Monaghan, Carvell, Waterhouse, Westwood, Grix. Substitutes: Harrison, Cooper, Higham, Wood.

Referee: S Ganson (St Helens).