Wakefield 37-22 Hull
Former Hull scrum-half Danny Brough tormented his old club with a terrific display to lead Wakefield to victory at Belle Vue.
Brough was instrumental in everything the Wildcats did, and racked up a personal haul of 15 points to keep the home side in the top six.
John Kear’s men put in one of their best performances of the season in the opening 40 minutes, taking the lead through Dale Ferguson.
A flowing move by Hull almost brought an immediate response, but Motu Tony was hauled down close to the line. Off the next play, a wayward pass was collected by Brough and he raced 80 metres to double Wakefield’s advantage.
Poor defence by Hull left Tony Martin in acres of space on the right, and Brough found him with a pinpoint kick to make it 18-0, and Brough rubbed salt in the Hull wounds with a drop goal at the midway point of the first half.
Matt Petersen was the next beneficiary of more brilliant play by Brough, getting on the end of a superb long pass by the Scotland World Cup star to go over in the corner. Brough’s conversion hit the post, but it took nothing away from an almost flawless first half display that saw Wakefield go in 22-0 at the break.
Hull came out with their tails between their legs in the second half, and Chris Thorman‘s 40-20 set up good field position for Gareth Raynor to go over.
But the fightback was short lived. Another good kick by Brough pinned Hull winger Jodie Broughton behind his own line, and as he tried to hold off four men to get the other side of the whitewash he lost the ball, and a gleeful Tony Martin picked it up and touched down, with the video referee confirming it as a legitimate try.
The game began to peter out, and Brough slotted over another two points after Shaun Berrigan was pulled for offside at the play the ball, the kick putting Wakefield 31-6 to the good.
Broughton made up for his earlier error with a try, and five minutes later a burst from Kirk Yeaman created another try, the centre evading a poor tackle attempt from Wildcats full back Matt Blaymire.
Hull began to take a few more risks, and some adventurous passing on their own line created space for Yeaman who raced 60 metres before being brought down by Blaymire. From the play the ball, Broughton went on a weaving run and his pace took him to the line to reduce arrears to 31-22 with three minutes to play.
The home side though had the final say, with Tevita Leo-Latu sending Ricky Bibey at the defence on the burst, and Bibey’s offload was gathered by Blaymire to go in under the sticks.