Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 29 Hull FC 6: Back-to-basics Wildcats have Kear purring again

After the previous weekend's thrashing by Hull Kingston Rovers, another side from East Yorkshire, fourth-placed Hull FC were probably the last team Kear wanted his confidence-shorn outfit to tackle.

With Wakefield in a three-horse race for the final end-of-season play-off place with Castleford Tigers and Bradford Bulls, Kear had laid down the gauntlet after the Robins collapse.

His plan worked to perfection, as they out-muscled and outworked Hull, who were forced into a succession of handling errors at a sultry Belle Vue.

While Trinity never sparkled, they continuously kept the pressure on Hull by completing their sets and keeping errors to a minimum.

"I'm very happy," said Kear. "A lot of questions were asked of the players and they answered them all really well.

"It was simple, back to basics and working hard and that's what the players did. It drained the energy out of Hull.

"But we can't do one week penthouse and one week doghouse. We have to find some consistency and we'll try and stay in the penthouse."

The Black and Whites should have opened the scoring inside three minutes. They broke down the right in acres of space, but Richard Whiting failed to pick out Danny Tickle and the chance was gone.

Whiting soon made amends in defence by pouncing on the ball after a cheeky between-the-legs pass from Paul Cooke as Wakefield had men over in the corner, before Tom Briscoe leaped to defuse Ben Jeffries's bomb.

Jordan Turner got the first try of the match, profiting from a ricochet after a lofted kick from Shaun Berrigan. Tickle converted.

Good handling from the impressive Julien Rinaldi created the opening for former KC Stadium favourite Cooke, who side-stepped his marker to crash over. The try was awarded despite TV replays suggesting Cooke dropped the ball over the line, and his conversion restored parity.

Stand-off Cooke was key to most of Wakefield's good work and his boot opened the visitors' defence once more. No-one could take Cooke's high kick, but, as the ball bounced, bearded Frenchman Rinaldi pounced before diving over.

Cooke at least proved he was human, by missing the conversion but made amends by knocking over a 34th-minute penalty after a high tackle by Kirk Yeaman.

The video referee surprisingly disallowed Yeaman's try just before the interval to cap a disjointed first 40 minutes with neither side able to conjure a sustained period of flowing rugby.

This was attritional stuff, with little expansive rugby, but Wakefield fans were on their feet when Charlie Leaeno crashed over after good work from Daryl Millard.

Cooke's conversion in front of the posts stretched their lead to 18-6 and the confidence seemed to seep back through Trinity.

A charge saw several offloads in the tackle which gained field position for Jeffries to kick the one-point drop goal.

Wakefield's defence had frustrated Hull and even when the visitors camped in their opponents' half, Trinity stood firm.

Murphy failed to ground the ball in the corner from Jason Demetriou's deft kick, but any hopes of a Hull fightback were ended with eight minutes to go.

Richard Horne's loose pass failed to pick out a team-mate and Millard pounced on the ball before racing the length of the field to score.

Cooke's conversion made it 25-6 but there was still time for another Wakefield try and once more it came from a Hull mistake.

Demetriou intercepted Berrigan's attempted pass, juggling the ball before sprinting away to crash over the line. Jeffries missed the conversion with the final kick of the evening, but nothing could wipe the smile off coach Kear's face.

Opposite number Richard Agar must now pick up his troops for the Hull derby on Thursday night after missing the chance to open a three-point cushion on fifth-placed Leeds Rhinos.

"We lost too many contests, too many little battles," said Agar. "I thought one side played with a lot more energy and control than the other side.

"The best team won and we have to cop this one on the chin.

"Over the last few weeks at times when we haven't been playing particularly well, we've always kept working hard for one another, but there were a few tell-tale signs like one-on-one misses out there.

"It was a pretty flat performance but I don't want to do any injustices to the opposition who I thought were very good."

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats: Blaymire, Gleeson, Murphy, Millard, Morton, Cooke, Jeffries, Leaeno, Rinaldi, Moore, Demetriou, Johnson, Morrison. Substitutes: Korkidas, King, Henderson, Leo-Latu.

Hull FC: Tansey, Whiting, Turner, Yeaman, T. Briscoe, Washbrook, Berrigan, Dowes, Houghton, Cusack, Manu, Tickle, Fitzgibbon.

Substitutes: Radford, Lauaki, Hall, Horne.

Referee: S Ganson (St Helens).