Saturday 19 September 2015 22:12, UK
Huddersfield held off a spirited 20-34 challenge from Hull FC to make it five Super 8s victories in a row and leave themselves on course to secure a home play-off.
Leeds' defeat against Castleford on Thursday night had given the Giants a sniff of a top-two finish and they will now go into next week's final game against the Rhinos with their fate in their own hands after a 34-20 win at the KC Stadium.
Jordan Rankin crossed to give Hull an early lead and it looked as if they would turn the screw after Craig Huby was sin-binned, only for Huddersfield to lift their game and score three unanswered tries through Aaron Murphy, Jake Connor and Scott Grix.
The Giants were cruising with half-time approaching but Hull hung in there and reduced the deficit to two points courtesy of another Rankin try and Josh Bowden's first of the season.
Kirk Yeaman celebrated his new contract with a try which edged the Black and Whites in front but the lead changed hands again as Connor finished in the corner.
In-form Giants winger Jermaine McGillvary went over for his 100th try for the club to make sure of the points before Jamie Ellis added gloss to the result on the final hooter.
Hudderfield came into the match on the back of a thumping win over Warrington but they found themselves behind after just four minutes when Rankin, whose move to Wests Tigers was confirmed this week, went over from dummy half.
Rankin was in the thick of the action again soon after as he stepped Huby and drew a high shot from the Giants prop, who knew his fate and walked off before referee James Thaler brandished the yellow card.
The incident appeared to spark Huddersfield into life and they were in front after Murphy took Connor's offload to score for the fifth successive match.
Huby rejoined his team-mates in time to see Murphy return the favour by laying on the opportunity for Connor to dive over in the corner and it got better for the Giants when Grix finished off Jack Hughes' break down the right.
Huddersfield were good value for their 12-point lead so it was a surprise when Rankin sliced through the Giants' right edge before stepping his way over for his second of the evening.
Rankin hauled down a rampaging Michael Lawrence as he continued to impress but Huddersfield did get on the board again before the break as Brough slotted over a penalty from out wide to make it 18-10.
Hull needed just eight second-half minutes to hit the front again, Bowden pouncing on a mix-up in Huddersfield's in-goal from Sneyd's kick before Yeaman dummied and raced clear to draw level with Ade Gardner in ninth place on the
list of all-time leading Super League try-scorers.
Errors began to creep into Hull's game and they were punished on the hour mark when Murphy's smart offload put Connor over in the corner.
Grix was bundled into touch as he attempted to score the game-clinching try from acting half and Huddersfield continued to do most of the running as the clock ticked down.
The Giants eventually ended Hull's resistance when McGillvary slid over in the corner for his 12th try in six games and there was still time for Ellis to touch down Brough's grubber kick.
