Wigan 14 Hull FC 12: Hull pay the penalty as Wigan leave it late to steal the points

The Warriors were reduced to 12 men on 68 minutes when Tomkins was sent off for use of the elbow and they were staring at a first defeat of the season until winger Josh Charnley hauled them back into the game with two second-half tries.

The scores were locked at 12-12 when Sam Tomkins, who took over the goalkicking from the injured Paul Deacon, edged the home side in front with a penalty four minutes from the end but the drama continued right up to the final whistle. Former Wigan forward Danny Tickle had the chance to tie the scores with a 40-metre penalty but his effort went narrowly wide, much to the relief of the home fans among the 15,346 crowd at the DW Stadium.

Hull gave a debut to former Wigan full-back Cameron Phelps, who made the worst possible start when he was outjumped by Wigan second row Ryan Hoffman, who collected Deacon’s towering kick to score the game’s first try after just three minutes.

Deacon, who struck an upright with the conversion attempt, was forced out of the action on 15 minutes after taking a heavy knock.

Hull’s former Wakefield half-back Sam Obst was a constant thorn in Wigan’s side with his elusive running and it was his break that set up the position for second row Joe Westerman to force his way over for an equalising try.

Hull, bidding for a first away win over Wigan for six years, were the more workmanlike side throughout the first half and they took advantage of a surfeit of possession to pile on the pressure, which paid off on 17 minutes when England winger Tom Briscoe touched down Richard Horne’s kick just inches from the dead-ball line.

Tickle’s conversion made it 10-4 and Hull demonstrated their resolve in defence to keep their lead intact by half-time.

Centre Kirk Yeaman pulled off a last-ditch tackle to deny Stefan Marsh and Phelps did just enough to put Joel Tomkins off his stride as he galloped for the line.

Wigan made their task all the more difficult when prop Jeff Lima, making a difficult home debut, came up with two handling errors early in the second half which kept his side on the back foot.

Hull, who had Willie Manu put on report for a high tackle on Sam Tomkins, extended their lead with Joe Westerman’s penalty but a long pass from makeshift stand-off Sean O’Loughlin got Charnley over unmarked for his first try on 54 minutes.

The game exploded on 64 minutes when Joel Tomkins and Yeaman traded blows following an off-the-ball incident.

Referee Steve Ganson let both players off with a lecture but showed the red card to the Wigan man moments later after he appeared to lead with the elbow going into a tackle by Yeaman.

The incident appeared to spark Wigan into life and they drew level eight minutes from the end when Charnley grabbed his second try, courtesy of another long pass from O’Loughlin.

Sam Tomkins was wide with both touchline conversion attempt but found the target with a penalty from close to the posts after Westerman had been pulled up for interference at the play-the-ball.

Hull coach Richard Agar believes his side deserved at least a point for their efforts.

“With the effort and commitment and also the way we played, I think we probably deserved a bit of something out of it,” said Agar.

“We’ve got a disappointed, frustrated and angry changing room. One or two things went against them, we never quite got the break we worked hard enough for. I’m very proud of the effort. Defensively I thought we were pretty good over the 80 minutes.”

Agar applauded the decision to brandish a red card to Joel Tomkins and accused Wigan’s players of over-stepping the mark.

“It was 100 per cent the right call,” he said. “If you look back at the brawl, maybe they were lucky to get just one bloke sent off.

“I’m quite happy that our blokes responded in the way they did because, if they are not going to get the right protection during the game, they’re entitled to do that.

Wigan: S. Tomkins, Goulding, Marsh, Carmont, Charnley, Deacon, Leuluai, Coley, McIlorum, Prescott, Hansen, Hoffman, O’Loughlin. Substitutes: J. Tomkins, Lima, Mossop, Farrell.

Hull FC: Phelps, Sharp, Whiting, Yeaman, T. Briscoe, Horne, Obst, O’Meley, Houghton, Radford, Westerman, Tickle, Fitzgibbon. Substitutes: Washbrook, Lauaki, Manu, Dowes.

Referee: S Ganson (St Helens).