Hull pile on Wigan woe

Hull battled back from a first half deficit to inflict a second defeat in less than a week on Wigan.

Brian Noble's men went down 12-6 in an opening-day defeat at home to Wakefield last Sunday, and this display will have done nothing to placate the Warriors' increasingly restless fans.

Second-half tries from Lee Radford and Peter Cusack proved to be the key for Hull in their first outing of the season.

A largely uninspiring opening half saw the sides share two tries and enter the dressing rooms locked at 6-6.

The visitors were the first side to trouble the scoreboard with 11 minutes gone through Phil Bailey.

They were unlucky not to have been ahead sooner, with a fine tackle from debutant Mark Calderwood blocking off Pat Richards, but it mattered little as in the next play, Chris Thorman failed with an interception off a Darrell Goulding pass, handing Bailey a simple route to the line.

Hull responded well, though, first forcing a goal-line drop-out and then levelling the scores as Richard Horne marked his return to full fitness with a try crafted by some fine work at hooker by Shaun Berrigan.

Both tries were converted as Hull enjoyed the majority of the possession, although Wigan remained the more menacing with the ball in hand - a point underlined when it took a thumping tackle from Kirk Yeaman to deny Goulding a second Wigan try.

Danny Tickle then spurned a chance to put Hull ahead seconds before the hooter when he failed with a 40-yard penalty, and he was made to pay as Wigan put themselves back ahead two minutes after the restart.

Hesitant

Tim Smith's kick should have been comfortably dealt with by Calderwood, but the England winger was hesitant and Richards beat him to the chase and the line.

Hull again responded well, with Graeme Horne being bundled out of play close to the line and Tom Briscoe punching his way through to run clear, although he chose the wrong option in not passing to the supporting Richard Horne and the move collapsed.

It merely delayed them edging ahead, though, as Radford produced a captain's effort with 57 minutes gone, managing to get under the posts following an Amos Roberts mistake.

Roberts - deputising at full-back for the suspended Richie Mathers - was caught flat-footed underneath a towering Thorman kick and allowed Tickle to beat him to the ball, from where he slapped a slightly suspect pass into the path of Radford who did the rest. Tickle's goal gave Hull the lead for the first time.

They refused to surrender that lead, with a fine tackle from Byrne again denying Goulding, before they delivered the knockout blow with nine minutes remaining as Cusack sidestepped his way over after bursting through the defensive line.