No place like home for Hull

Hull have held on to their 100 per cent home record after grinding out an 18-6 Super League win against Bradford at the KC Stadium.

Two tries from Jordan Tansey and one from Lee Radford were sufficient for Richard Agar's men on a night which brought wet conditions and inspired little in the way of creativity.

Determination was what was required and no-one was more determined than Craig Fitzgibbon, the Australian an inspirational figure in both attack and defence as Hull bounced back following last weekend's hammering at Wigan.

Bradford, who barely troubled Hull's line as they succumbed to a fourth loss of the season, were hamstrung by the late withdrawal of playmaker Matt Orford with a sickness bug, while Hull's Richard Horne failed to recover from a rib injury.

Stilted

The first half was stilted to say the least and only came to life just 10 seconds before the hooter when Tansey touched down for the first time.

The opening exchanges passed without incident, with the crowd having to wait until the 16th minute for the deadlock to be broken.

It came courtesy of a penalty slotted by Paul Sykes, although home fans buoyed by Sean Long's subsequent 40-20 kick would have been disappointed when Peter Cusack knocked-on a yard from the line.

The standard did improve slightly, though, with Hull's Richard Whiting doing well to halt Chris Nero's break and Mark Calderwood producing a strong tackle to thwart a line-bound Stuart Reardon.

The home side had a try ruled out six minutes before the interval when referee Ben Thaler ruled that Willie Manu had not grounded correctly having received Calderwood's pass.

However, Tansey gained the referee's approval when he touched down Jordan Turner's grubber kick, with Danny Tickle converting with the last kick of the half.

Turner could have scored Hull's second soon after the restart - Dave Halley eventually clearing up for Bradford after Long's chip kick caused mass confusion under their posts.

Purpose

However, Hull's forwards now had more purpose about them and a bruising set in which Fitzgibbon played a major part brought their second after 47 minutes.

It was also Tansey's second, the full-back receiving a pass from Fitzgibbon, the ball having come loose following Kirk Yeaman's attempted dart to the line.

Bradford had no real response and even when they did press forward, Fitzgibbon more often than not proved the barrier to the Hull line.

With Steve McNamara's side out on their feet, it was left to former Bradford forward Radford to seal the win with a close-range dart from dummy half 10 minutes from the end.

Reardon then slipped in at the corner for a consolation try in the final minute.