Warrington Wolves 12-19 Hull FC: Visitors triumph in bruising Super League clash
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 18/05/19 7:01pm
Hull FC ended their Warrington Wolves hoodoo with a titanic 19-12 victory at the Halliwell Jones Stadium to move into Super League's top four.
The Wolves had won the last three clashes with an aggregate score of 173-34 and looked set to continue their fine form against Lee Radford's side when Toby King crossed to put Warrington 6-0 ahead.
However, three tries in eight first-half minutes from Mickey Paea, Scott Taylor and Albert Kelly put the visitors in firm control and Hull held out with rugged defence to lead 18-6 at half-time.
Jake Connor stopped play in the 50th minute for an alleged bite on his hand from Warrington half-back Dec Patton, which referee James Child put on report before Blake Austin crashed over to trim Hull's lead to 18-12.
Connor was lucky to only see a yellow card after punching Warrington winger Bryson Goodwin, which sparked a mass brawl between both sets of players, but the Wire could not capitalise.
Marc Sneyd landed a drop-goal with 12 minutes remaining to put Hull seven points ahead, which was enough for a valuable victory.
Warrington had the better of the field position during the opening exchanges, but the hosts needed a stroke of luck to break the deadlock in the 10th minute.
An Austin high kick should have been dealt with by rookie winger Kieran Buchanan, who was starting just his second professional match, but the 21-year-old saw the ball ricochet off his chest and into the arms of King to cross.
The Black and Whites hit back immediately when Warrington let the kick-off bounce back into the hands of Kelly and - after a penalty for a high tackle - Paea crashed over to level the scores.
Another infringement by the hosts helped Hull move downfield before a neat grubber kick from Sneyd was chased down by Taylor to dot down for a 12-6 lead.
It only took Hull five minutes to extend their lead after they kept the ball alive via five offloads for Sneyd to find Kelly with the crash ball for his half-back partner to stretch over for an 18-6 advantage after 25 minutes.
Jamie Shaul denied Goodwin his 100th career try with a terrific last-ditch tackle before Ben Murdoch-Masila thought he had closed the gap when he touched down on the stroke of half-time, but Child ruled out the effort for a knock on from the kick to the corner and Hull led 18-6 at the break.
Warrington needed a fast start after the interval and almost got a try inside two minutes when Josh Charnley broke on the right edge only for Shaul to produce another superb tackle to deny the winger.
The hosts eventually got on the scoreboard in the 55th minute when Austin produced two fine sidesteps to jink his way through the Hull defence and power his way over to cut the deficit to 18-12.
Hull were reduced to 12 men in the 57th minute, but the Wire could not capitalise on the numerical advantage as they continued to make errors deep in the visitors' half.
Sneyd landed the drop-goal to ensure Warrington needed two scores for victory and after a series of injuries towards the end of a bruising encounter, which also saw Murdoch-Masila sin-binned late on, Hull held on.