Hodgson delivers killer blow

Richard Horne held up by Shannon McDonnell

Rhys Lovegrove holds off Willie Manu on Magic weekend

Winger David Hodgson struck in the last move of the match to give Rovers a dramatic 32-30 victory in the 216th Hull derby at the Etihad Stadium.

The Black and Whites looked to be cruising to victory when they led 30-16 after 65 minutes but the Robins hit back with three late tries, one of them a highly-controversial touchdown, to claim a third win in four games and climb into the top eight of Stobart Super League at the expense of champions Leeds.

Winger Sam Latus sparked the late fightback while scrum-half Michael Dobson scored from what looked like a forward pass before Hodgson, fresh from his four-try feat against Castleford, beat two men on a thrilling 60-metre run to score his second try of the match.

The epic encounter brought the curtain down in memorable fashion on day one of the Magic Weekend, which drew 30,763 fans to the Etihad Stadium.

Hull, who now have lost all four Magic Weekend derbies, made the early running and England winger Tom Briscoe had his ankle tapped by Rovers full-back Shannon McDonnell in full flight for the line while in-form centre Jordan Turner also went close.

Sin-binned

When Turner went close a second time, it took a desperate tackle from Kris Welham to deny him but Dobson was ruled to have held on too long in the tackle and was sin-binned by referee Steve Ganson.

Hull immediately made the extra man count, with scrum-half Brett Seymour taking Danny Houghton's pass from dummy half to go through a gap for the first try, to which Danny Tickle added the first of his five goals from as many attempts.

Rovers' response was swift, however, as they ran in two tries in five minutes to take the lead.

Centre Craig Hall handed off his opposite number Tony Martin for the first and, with Dobson back on the field, sent McDonnell over for the second with a superb inside pass.

Hall and Dobson added the conversions to make it 12-6 but Hull worked themselves into an 18-12 half-time lead with two tries in a six-minute spell.

Willie Manu and Martin combined to free winger Briscoe and stand-off Richard Horne was in support to touch down while Manu scored himself after plucking the ball out of the air from Seymour's high kick.

Pressure

There was a brief momentum shift in the third quarter as the Robins subjected their opponents' defence to intense pressure.

Replacement prop Ryan O'Hara was twice held narrowly short and right winger Latus got over the line only to be held up on his back by Martin and Briscoe.

However, the pressure paid off on 50 minutes when Blake Green combined with his half-back partner Dobson to get David Hodgson over for his first try to cut the deficit to just two points.

The kicking game of Seymour then appeared to swing the game back in Hull's favour as they added two further tries to open up a 30-16 lead.

The impressive Manu drew two defenders to get Martin crashing over before Turner gathered Seymour's kick to the corner to touch down.

Tickle maintain his unerring accuracy to give his side a 14-point cushion but the gap was soon back to two as the Robins roared back.

Hall got Latus over at the corner and Dobson took a return pass from Rhys Lovegrove that looked suspiciously forward to score his side's fifth try with just eight minutes left.

And just a minute remained on the clock when Hodgson went on his thrilling touchline run to break Hull hearts and sent the Robins fans into delirium.

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