Radford delighted with the Sterlo buzz

Lee Radford (pictured) watched Hull FC extend their winning start to the new season before declaring they would have lost Friday’s derby against Hull KR this time last year.
Radford’s men have now won their opening two league games of the season, and despite impressing against Leeds on the opening weekend, they were far from their best on Friday against Rovers.
Yet Radford admitted he was delighted to see his side win ugly.
“It wasn’t pretty, because some fans think we’ve already got the Grand Final and won the Challenge Cup after last week, so I’m bouncing that it was ugly.
“It’s not a reality check, but you have to beat teams sometimes, whether it’s beating them fantastically or just grinding a win out, as we did on Friday.
“I don’t think we would have won that game twelve months ago, so that’s a good start.”
Radford was delighted to have secured a derby victory with club icon Peter Sterling watching on from the stands.
“He’s just fired up Old Faithful in the changing rooms, so that’s pretty special as well,” said Radford.
“I’ve been a little in awe of him this week. He is genuinely Rugby League greatness.
“Every Hull FC supporter reminds you of the glory days in the 80s and he played a part in that. You feel like you’ve always had to live up to that from the 90s onwards and I certainly felt for him to hand the shirt out to Danny Houghton, on his 350th start. I couldn’t think of anyone better.”
Radford also admitted that for large parts of the contest on Friday, Rovers were arguably the side who looked more capable of winning the game, admitting he wasn’t too pleased with the nature of Hull’s performance.
“Until the final quarter I didn’t think we were the better team,” he added.