HULL FC 22 LEIGH LEOPARDS 32
EMMA KENNEDY, MKM Stadium, Saturday

JUST when you thought you had seen everything, this game decided to throw-in another twist.

The question on everyone’s lips was quite what was said by Andy Last to his Hull FC side to inspire their comeback after a measly first-half display.

For 40 minutes, the hosts were dead and buried, with Leigh going in at half-time with what had seemed an insurmountable 28-0 lead.

But the Black and Whites emerged from the sheds with a spring in their step – scoring 18 unanswered points to threaten a comeback for the ages – only for a late Josh Charnley try to seal victory for Leigh.

Hull made one enforced change from last week’s defeat at York, with Davy Litten replacing Lewis Martin, ruled out under head injury protocols.

Leigh also showed one change from their hard-fought win against Castleford, with Matt Davis dropping to the bench for Frankie Halton, who looked to make an immediate impact on the game.

The second-row looked to have fired the Leopards into a fourth-minute lead after Lachlan Lam’s no-look pass sent him through a gap, only for referee Aaron Moore to rule the halfback’s pass had drifted forward.

However, that proved to be a warning Hull didn’t heed, with a myriad of penalties and errors leaving them barely able to get out of their own half in a completely one-sided opening 40 minutes.

Having won a scrum close to the line, a pass intended for Umyla Hanley cannoned off the centre and into the path of Charnley, who weaved his way past a stagnant home defence to break the deadlock with nine minutes played, Adam Cook converting.

Hull had their best chance two minutes later when Innes Senior’s pass back inside couldn’t find a teammate, but an Amir Bourouh forward pass broke down the move in what proved the story of the Black and Whites’ first half.

Things went from bad to worse when a Lam break laid the field position for Cook to race onto his own kick forward and score next to the posts, the halfback converting before slotting over a penalty goal to hand Leigh a 14-0 lead.

The one-way traffic continued, with Hull their own worst enemies as David Armstrong profited to score twice in three minutes.

His first came from a scrum on the 10-metre line, with Tom Briscoe left grasping at thin air on the right, Lam then sending him through a gaping hole on the opposite edge after the kick-off had flown out on the full.

And after Logan Moy had raced too eagerly out of the defensive line to concede a sixth penalty of the half, Cook’s drop-off pass released Hanley through a gap on the left to hand Leigh a 28-0 half-time lead.

Hull had been second best in every department during the first half, but it was roles reversed as they firmly put the Leopards under pressure after the break.

Armstrong had to be alert to prevent Barron what seemed a certain try into the right corner, but the Leigh defence was helpless to stop the winger a minute later as Moy released him on the overlap to bring the hosts onto the board with 48 minutes played.

Gareth O’Brien was then forced into conceding a drop-out, from which Aidan Sezer broke a tackle before finding Cade Cust on his shoulder to score, the try given after a video check.

With the wind firmly in their sails, Hull soon had their third, with academy talent Lennon Clark – freshly-introduced from the bench – rising highest to claim Jake Arthur’s chip and stretching out a hand to mark his home debut with a try.

Leigh threatened to capitulate further when Owen Trout was sin-binned for pulling back Cust as he looked to support another Sezer break, but Hull could not capitalise on their numerical advantage, despite the best efforts of Briscoe and Cust.

But a moment of magic from Cook with 10 minutes remaining proved decisive, his 40/20 laying the field position for Charnley to acrobatically dive over out wide and restore Leigh’s 16-point advantage.

Hull hit back from the resultant short kick-off, Hardaker collecting Sezer’s cross-field chip before releasing Barron for his second, but it failed to affect the final result.

GAMESTAR: Adam Cook. The halfback had his fingerprints on everything Leopards, with Hull unable to contain him, particularly in the first half.

GAMEBREAKER: Adam Cook’s 40/20, which set the position for Josh Charnley’s 71st-minute try killed Hull’s momentum and re-established a 16-point gap for Leigh.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: Hull FC’s second-half performance to bring themselves back into the game after a woeful first-half showing.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Adam Cook (Leigh)
2 pts David Armstrong (Leigh)
1 pt Cade Cust (Hull)

MATCHFACTS

HULL FC
24 Logan Moy
2 Harvey Barron
4 Zak Hardaker
3 Davy Litten
19 Tom Briscoe
6 Jake Arthur
7 Aidan Sezer
26 Hugo Salabio
9 Amir Bourouh
10 Harvie Hill
11 Joe Batchelor
39 Ethan O’Neill
15 James Bell
Subs (all used)
8 Herman Ese’ese
14 Cade Cust
20 Yusuf Aydin
36 Lennon Clark
18th man (not used)
29 Will Hutchinson
Also in 21-man squad
25 Matty Laidlaw
32 Lloyd Kemp
35 Ben Johnson

Tries: Barron (48, 73), Cust (52), Clark (58)
Goals: Hardaker 3/4

LEOPARDS
21 Gareth O’Brien
19 Innes Senior
1 David Armstrong
4 Umyla Hanley
5 Josh Charnley
6 Adam Cook
7 Lachlan Lam
12 Owen Trout
17 Liam Horne
13 Isaac Liu
11 Frankie Halton
22 Jack Hughes
25 Lewis Brogan
Subs (all used)
9 Edwin Ipape
16 Matt Davis
28 Ryan Brown
31 Lazarus Vaalepu
18th man (not used)
24 Ben McNamara
Also in 21-man squad
26 Nathan Wilde
29 Will Brough

Tries: Charnley (9, 71), Cook (16), Armstrong (31, 34), Hanley (39)
Goals: Cook 4/7
Sin bin: Trout (61) – denying a try-scoring opportunity

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 0-12, 0-14, 0-18, 0-24, 0-28, 4-28, 10-28, 16-28,16-32, 22-32

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Hull FC: Cade Cust; Leopards: Adam Cook

Penalty count: 5-7
Half-time: 0-28
Referee: Aaron Moore