Hull FC 34-10 Warrington: Airlie Birds go top of Super League table
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 29/04/17 8:24am
Hull FC stepped up their title bid in emphatic fashion with a 34-10 win over Warrington to go top of the Betfred Super League.
The Black and Whites followed up their victory over previous leaders Castleford by condemning Warrington to a first defeat in six matches with an impressive success at the KCOM Stadium.
Centre Jake Connor was the hero for Hull, scoring the first try and providing the final passes for two more, while the game management of scrum-half Marc Sneyd ensured the home side were able to build on a slender 14-10 interval lead, with stand-off Albert Kelly scoring two tries to take his tally for the season to 11.
Warrington, who had the chance to climb out of the bottom four for the first time this year, had Kurt Gidley at hooker in the absence of the injured Daryl Clark, and that disrupted their attacking flow.
Hull led 20-4 in their first meeting of the season with Warrington before being pegged back for a draw and they once more made a fast start with two tries inside the first 10 minutes.
The visitors looked especially vulnerable under the high ball and Connor drew first blood by catching Sneyd's high kick to score the first try.
The former Huddersfield man then combined with second rower Sika Manu to get winger Mahe Fonua over for a second and Sneyd added his second conversion to make it 12-0.
Warrington eventually weathered the early storm and pulled a try back on 15 minutes when full-back Stefan Ratchford's cut-out pass got winger Matty Russell over at the corner.
Hull had Manu sin-binned midway through the first half for a 'chicken-wing' tackle on Ryan Atkins and the Wolves immediately took advantage of the extra man, with former Hull loose forward Joe Westerman taking Dec Patton's pass to stride through a gap in the home defence.
Patton's conversion cut the gap to just two points and Hull were forced into some desperate defence, holding Rhys Evans up over the line and halting Tom Lineham just short of it.
They successfully held out their visitors until Manu returned from the bin and extended their lead with a Sneyd penalty seven minutes before the break.
A storming run from Warrington substitute Joe Philbin created the position for second rower Jack Hughes to cross the line early in the second half but the try was disallowed by video referee Ben Thaler for an obstruction in the build-up and the visitors never got another look-in as Sneyd put his stamp on the game.
Sneyd forced two goal-line drop-outs with his pinpoint kicking before full-back Jamie Shaul took Connor's inside pass and stretched out of Atkins' tackle to touch down for a third try.
Sneyd's touchline conversion opened up a 10-point lead and after extending it with a second penalty on 53 minutes, he came up with a 40-20 kick that set up the position for Kelly to score his 10th try of the season, somehow reaching out of a four-man tackle to plant the ball on the line.
Warrington were pressing for a consolation score when Fonua intercepted to go 80 metres before sending the supporting Kelly over his second try, with Sneyd maintaining his perfect record with his seventh goal.
