Warrington 30-12 Hull FC: Wolves impress with second-half blitz
Last Updated: 26/05/18 2:02pm
Warrington came from 12-0 down at half-time to sweep aside an injury-decimated Hull FC 30-12 in the Betfred Super League.
The Wolves looked to be suffering a hangover from their 38-10 defeat by Wigan at the Magic Weekend when they produced an abject first-half performance against a Hull side denied the services of 10 senior players due to injury and suspension.
But they responded to coach Steve Price's interval pep talk and ran wild against their under-strength visitors, whose first-half heroics gradually took a heavy toll.
The win keeps third-placed Warrington in touch with Super League pacesetters St Helens and Wigan - opening up a four-point gap between them and the Black and Whites.
The match was played in good spirits, but was marked by an allegation of biting made by Warrington captain Chris Hill against Hull's French winger Hakim Miloudi, which referee Gareth Hewer put on report.
Hull could hardly have made a better start as makeshift centre Dean Hadley pounced for a seventh-minute try after his former team-mate Tom Lineham failed to deal with rookie scrum-half Liam Harris' high kick to the line.
Four minutes later, skipper Danny Houghton got prop Mickey Paea crashing over from short range and Jake Connor's second conversion made it 12-0.
The visitors could have been further ahead by the break with centre Cameron Scott and Miloudi both going close after demonstrating their dribbling skills and winger Jack Logan dropping the ball as he attempted to cross in the corner.
Slow-starting Warrington eventually managed to apply some pressure on the Hull line, with Ben Murdoch-Masila - pressed into service as a prop in the absence of three specialist front rowers - held up over the line and Lineham bundled into touch by Logan.
The Black and Whites were good value for their interval lead, but their defence finally cracked five minutes into the second half when second rower Harvey Livett took Kevin Brown's pass and stretched out to the line for a try he converted to halve the deficit.
And the scores were level on 52 minutes when Brown ran the ball on the last tackle and squeezed through a chink in the visitors defence for a second try, which was again kicked by Livett.
With the momentum firmly going their way, it was no surprise when the Wolves went in front for the first time, the burly Murdoch-Masila proving unstoppable from 10 metres out.
As Hull tired, centre Ryan Atkins sent winger Josh Charnley over for the 199th try of his career before slicing through the defence for one of his own and man of the match Livett maintained his 100 per cent record by taking his goal tally to five.
