Hull FC boss John Cartwright stays positive despite seeing home losing streak extended against St Helens

It is now 12 games without a win at the MKM Stadium for Hull, a run stretching back to July 20 last year, with Saints prevailing 13-6 thanks to Kyle Feldt’s brace of tries and Jonny Lomax kicking five points.

The visitors, who moved above Leeds in the table, took advantage of several errors from their opponents to open up a 12-0 lead shortly after half-time although Davy Litten’s try revived Hull’s hopes.

All eight of Hull’s victories this year have been on the road and the wind was taken out of their sails following Lomax’s drop goal two minutes from time, securing Saints’ 20th win in their last 21 meetings against the Black and Whites.

Cartwright reiterated he is not concerned by the anomaly between his team's home and away form.

“If we use that as an excuse, that’s all it is: an excuse,” he said. “I saw some really tough efforts and that’s where we need to be.

“I know what they’re capable of, the tough thing to get right is getting blokes to keep trying when things aren’t going your way and they’re doing it for us in spades.

“I probably sound like a broken record but I love the way they stay together and work for each other.”

Saints’ coach Paul Wellens was initially unaware of Hull’s home record until about 48 hours before travelling across the M62 but he is certain the wheel will turn for the Black and Whites.

“When I was told, I was thinking that could have bitten us on the backside,” Wellens said.

“But we did communicate it to the players that given the quality of team they are, they’re going to beat somebody here and we wanted to make sure it wasn’t us.

“We looked like a team that enjoyed being in that type of encounter and were comfortable – I’ve probably questioned that in the past.

“We know there’s bits of our game we need to work on if we want to take that next step as a team but what I can’t fault is the group’s resilience and effort – it was top-class.”