Hull FC's excellence can't prevent painful late defeat to Wigan Warriors
HULL FC’s interim coach Andy Last hailed his players for their performance against Wigan Warriors – even if the game got away from them late on.
After last week’s embarrassing 36-10 home defeat to Wakefield Trinity, Last was looking for a response.
And while he got what he was looking for, his team were ultimately left with nothing after Harry Smith’s late try snatched victory for the visitors, who looked out of sorts for much of the contest.
“I’m really disappointed with the result but I’m proud of the effort – we were excellent,” said Last.
“It was evident that we’d learned those lessons from last week. Getting the physical side of the game right against a team like Wigan was so important and we did that.”
Besides the late blow, Last revealed Harvey Barron has been ruled out of next week’s Magic Weekend derby due to a head injury, and he was unhappy over a disallowed try for Tom Briscoe.
“There was a bit of gamesmanship,” said Last. “Kaide Ellis was into the ref at the water breaks and we ended up being on the receiving end of some harsh calls in that second half.
“I’m struggling with the Tommy Briscoe one, I thought that was a try in my opinion, but that’s the story of our season. We haven’t had much luck and we didn’t get one there.”
Clearly still stinging from last week’s loss, Last’s men piled on the pressure from the start and it took just six minutes for them to trouble the scoreboard as Aidan Sezer’s neat pass sent Lewis Martin over in the corner.
Wigan’s day got worse as they lost Luke Thompson to injury after a quarter of an hour, and it required a typical moment of magic from Bevan French to stem the tide as his perfectly weighted pass sent Zach Eckersley in.
Hull, however, were back in the lead within four minutes after a flopped pass from Patrick Mago handed the hosts the initiative just outside the Wigan 20 and they worked it right where Harvey Barron’s try, converted by Zak Hardaker, took the hosts to double figures.
Wigan reeled themselves back within two points early in the second half when Field and Smith combined to send Noah Hodkinson over, but their momentum was stemmed by a strong response by the hosts, for whom Jed Cartwright wrestled down their third try.
Peet’s men, however, gradually ratcheted up the pressure. Keighran converted his own try then kicked a penalty to haul the scores level, and the scene was set for Smith to jink through and secure victory with seven minutes left.