Hull FC coach Lee Radford stunned as Super League play-off hopes fade after loss at Castleford Tigers

Tigers' Mike McMeeken drives into Hull's defence. Picture Jonathan Gawthorpe

A win at Castleford Tigers last night would have secured them a play-offs place but they were vanquished 44-12 following an awful display.

Hull were 20-0 down inside just 22 minutes following an abysmal start to the game.

“Everything we said we didn’t want to do we went out there and did it unfortunately,” said Radford, whose side are replaced in the fifth and final spot by Castleford.

“The building blocks we didn’t put in for that first 10, 15 minutes was suicide. We just couldn’t come back from that.”

Trailing 20-6 at the break, Hull could have rescued themselves with a decent start to the second period but immediately gifted Jake Trueman his hat-trick after a farcical pass from Jack Logan on his own 20m line.

“We’ve done some things with the football tonight that I’ve not recognised,” said Radford.

“We’ve saved some of the strangest decisions for the biggest of stages unfortunately.”

Hull now need to beat St Helens on Friday and hope Castleford lose at Wigan but Radford insisted: “We’ve had three shots to get in the play-offs.If as a group you don’t adapt and change things you’re always going to get the same the outcome.”

Castleford boss Daryl Powell hailed Trueman, the 20-year-old stand-off who scored a hat-trick of tries.

“He’s just fantastic isn’t he?” said the coach. “The boys call him World Class. And I think he’s every chance of being that for a long time to come.

“Some of the things he does are so instinctive. He has a cheekiness about his game, too.

“We had a bit of a moment in a meeting this week where Jesse (Sene-Lefao) said ‘I’ll look after Truey defensively’ as they have some big back-rows.

“But he said ‘I’ll look after you!’ He’s just so strong

“Truey’s so unassuming and he’s old school as well. I just love watching him play. But it was a great performance all-around by the lads. That opening 30 minutes was outstanding.”

Former Hull KR centre Thomas Minns will make his return from a drugs ban with Championship club Featherstone.

The 25-year-old was sacked by the Robins after testing positive for cocaine use in 2018 but he has now been offered a two-year deal with Featherstone from 2020.