Hull FC 37-20 Huddersfield: Giants' Super League woes continue
By PA
Last Updated: 08/04/16 11:16pm
Huddersfield's miserable 2016 Super League campaign continued as they suffered a 37-20 defeat to in-form Hull FC at the KCOM Stadium.
While the Black and Whites are surprising many this season - this was their fifth win in a row - the Giants must wish they could reset the clock to January.
They now have one win from their 10 games this campaign, a damning number given their high levels of consistency over recent seasons, and they can no longer cite injuries as a mitigating factor.
The form of deposed captain Danny Brough has been questioned and rumours persist of a return to Hull. This was one of his better showings of the year, but he blotted his copybook with a second-half sin-binning during which his side shipped 12 match-defining points.
His yellow card came after Hull had opened up an eight-point lead, the biggest of the night at that stage, and it started to become clear that this was going to be another night of despair for Paul Anderson's men.
Hull have no such worries. They now have 10 points from 10 since their humiliation at Widnes last month and even the sub-plot of a possible return for Brough could not distract them.
Brough left Hull as a Challenge Cup winner in 2006 and their decision to let him go has rarely lost its haunting effect, given his ascension into one of the game's leading playmakers and Hull's seemingly never-ending search for a half-back.
Before this game, Hull owner Adam Pearson called the rumours "speculation" and then settled in as his side went in front through Josh Bowden.
But Brough responded with a short pass to send Joe Wardle in, before Aaron Murphy put Huddersfield ahead when Ryan Brierley drew the last line of defence and assisted him.
Hull came back, Liam Watts marking his 100th appearance in Black and White by going over with a dummy on the back of a Brierley forward pass and a penalty, and then Jamie Shaul put them ahead with his seventh score of the season as Marc Sneyd's kick stood up for him.
The see-saw nature of the game continued, Brough getting over the line through sheer force of will, with a miscued conversion all that prevented the scores being locked at 18-all at the break.
The start of the second half brought about a considerably more conservative style of play, with only Brierley really threatening with a break that was ankle-tapped to a halt.
In the end it was Sneyd's creativity which got the scoreboard ticking again, his 55th-minute kick on point for Houghton, with Sneyd's fourth goal from four making it 24-16.
It all proved too much for Brough, who spoiled his night with a sin-binning after appearing to speak out of turn to referee Robert Hicks.
With Brough licking his wounds to the cat-calls of the home fans, his side fell further behind. Sneyd's pass was tipped on to Curtis Naughton, who then sent Shaul in for his second.
Huddersfield were unravelling and Naughton made it five tries in as many games with a scrambled effort, although Jermaine McGillvary made up for his poor attempt at stopping him with a 10th of the season at the other end.
That was the end of the scoring until Sneyd added a last-second drop goal to wrap things up.
