Coach Brett Hodgson hailed the “character” that helped Hull FC bounce back from defeat by St Helens to seal a fourth victory in five – 31-22 at home to Wigan Warriors on Saturday.
The fifth-placed Black and Whites were hanging on after Liam Farrell’s 75th-minute try reduced their lead to 25-22.
But Tevita Satae’s late score, and Luke Gale’s conversion, meant Hull and their fans could breathe more easily, with hooker Danny Houghton marking his 400th club appearance in style.
Gale, who passed the 2,000 career points milestone during the game, was yellow carded during the last seconds after kicking the ball into touch as Wigan attempted to play it.
But it couldn’t take the gloss off the victory for Hodgson, who said: “We had a good week to be able to respond (to the St Helens loss) and work on our spine.
“Josh (Reynolds) and Luke went really well with what they did, and Jake (Connor) was superb at the back. The three of them with Danny Houghton were really influential.”
Hodgson continued: “That is a win built on a lot of character.
“Players were playing injured and sore, and the fact that there was a period where Wigan were in control of the game in that second half makes it all the more pleasing that we held firm.
“Going into half-time, the scoreline didn’t reflect our dominance, but to be fair to Wigan, they came to play. They threw everything at us, but we had all the answers.
“Guys like Bevan French and Jai Field are always going to hurt you at some stage, but we were willing to get numbers around them and stop them getting over the line.
“They’re very difficult to score against, so to execute those plays like we did was superb to see.”
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