Hull FC 56-12 Hull KR: Hull thrash Rovers for derby spoils
Last Updated: 19/04/19 4:29pm
Hull FC climbed to fourth place in Super League in emphatic fashion as they recorded the biggest margin of victory in derby history with a 56-12 success over Hull KR at the KCOM Stadium.
The two sides traded early scores from Jake Connor and Jimmy Keinhorst before Hull grabbed a foothold in the game with a brace of tries from Jack Logan to put Lee Radford's side 18-6 up inside 19 minutes.
Craig Hall marked his 100th Rovers appearance with a try two minutes before half-time to reduce the gap to 18-12, but a fine break just three minutes after the restart by Mark Minichiello saw the home side's advantage restored to 12 points.
Marc Sneyd extended the lead to 14 points with a simple penalty before Joe Westerman powered his way over to put Hull 32-12 in front with 17 minutes left.
Ben Crooks and Scott Taylor were both sin-binned to reduce to match to 12-a-side and the hosts exploited the gaps left in the visiting defence as Albert Kelly, Mickey Paea and Connor Wynne crossed, with Logan also completing his hat-trick to seal a stunning triumph in the 233rd Hull derby.
Rovers thought they grabbed the first score after five minutes when former FC hooker Tommy Lee powered his way over from close range, but his effort was ruled out for double movement.
However, it was the hosts who went up the other end to score the opening try in the ninth minute as they capitalised on a Rovers infringement for Connor to cut through the away defence and cross the whitewash.
Rovers were level just four minutes later when a fine move from right to left helped created an overlap on the left edge for Keinhorst to burst past Logan and stretch for the line.
The visitors then gifted the ball back to the Black and Whites when they let the ball bounce dead from kick-off before Logan scored a quickfire double to move his side 18-6 up.
The Hull half-back could not add a penalty from 20 metres for his first blemish, which galvanised Rovers and they started to mount serious pressure on the home try-line by forcing a third goal-line drop-out.
Shaun Lunt was held up over the whitewash from the next attack but a 40/20 from Josh Drinkwater set the platform for Rovers to finally breach the home defence when a delayed pass from Joel Tomkins sent Hall through a gap to cut the deficit to six points at the break.
Both teams traded knock-ons early in the second half and Hull capitalised on the away side's error when Minichiello produced a superb line break from 35 metres to race clear before showing an even better dummy to cross and put the hosts 24-12 ahead.
Sneyd added a penalty to ensure the visitors needed three scores with 30 minutes remaining and the advantage improved to 20 points when Minichiello's lateral run created space for Westerman to barge his way into the post and over the whitewash.
Crooks and Taylor were sin-binned with 15 minutes left and the home side took full advantage of the extra space in the away defence, starting with Kelly who pounced on a loose ball after Josh Griffin was adjudged to have had the ball stolen in the tackle.
Paea powered his way over against his former club to the joy of the KCOM Stadium crowd faithful before an even louder cheer roared around the stadium as Logan raced clear from 50 metres for his treble and Wynne also crossed for a debut derby score.
