Round 23
Hull FC 0 l. Huddersfield Giants 24

2009 engage English Super League Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: United Kingdom > National > First Grade Competition: engage English Super League

Huddersfield continue Super League title charge
Sat August 1, 2009
Source: www.superleague.co.uk

Huddersfield Giants' unexpected yet relentless race towards the engage Super League summit continued at the KC Stadium tonight as they earned a sixth-successive win by beating struggling Hull FC 24-0.

Nathan Brown's impressive side were outsiders and tipped by few to win the competition at the start of the season but, thanks to this four-try win, they now sit in second place and firmly on the shoulder of the leaders St Helens.

While they will now go and prepare for next weekend's Carnegie Challenge Cup semi-final with the Saints knowing that their place in the play-offs is confirmed, Hull coach Richard Agar will have two weeks to reflect on his side's 15th defeat in their last 19 games.

Agar said after last weekend's derby loss to Hull Kingston Rover that his side's play-off hopes would be all but over should they fail to win here and, apart from producing an aggressive display for the first quarter of the game, they rarely looked like acting upon his warning.

Despite having won just four times at home all season, Hull started confidently and saw Richard Horne waste the first genuine chance as he failed to gather the ball after a Mark Calderwood knock-down following a high kick.

The opportunities continued to present themselves to both sides, with Scott Moore failing to take advantage of an intercept for Huddersfield as his pitch-length run was relieved by Calderwood, while Shaun Berrigan, making his 50th Hull appearance, saw a try chalked off by referee Steve Ganson who called a forward pass against Craig Hall.

Huddersfield then took full advantage of their good fortune as they opened the scoring with 28 minutes gone through former Great Britain winger David Hodgson, who raced in at the corner for his 18th try of the season following a neat exchange between Kevin Brown and Brett Hodgson.

The score certainly sapped some of Hull's enthusiasm in defence and the Giants again pounced, with Shaun Lunt going over the line four minutes before the break, taking in another ball from Brown before twisting away from a tackle and cantering over unopposed. Brett Hodgson converted both tries for an interval lead that flattered Huddersfield somewhat.

They were definitely worthy of their third score five minutes into the second half, though, with Michael Lawrence chipping in with his fourth score in his last six.

Leroy Cudjoe had already gone close in the corner by the time the score arrived, with Lawrence arriving at the right moment to collect Brown's flat ball before easily making his way under the posts. Hodgson again added the conversion.

Hull's troubles continued as they lost Jordan Tansey to injury while Sam Moa could have given them a lifeline with 12 minutes remaining, dropping the ball over the line as he chased down Horne's kick.

Ex-Huddersfield man Chris Thorman saw his blushes spared by Ganson as he ruled that Lunt had not grounded the ball correctly after the full-back allowed a Danny Sculthorpe kick to bounce in front of him, only for the same thing to happen again in the last minute with Cudjoe succeeding where Lunt had failed after Thorman was caught flat-footed by Liam Fulton's towering bomb.

Cudjoe's score, his 10th in seven games, confirmed Huddersfield's first clean sheet of the season and in return completed the first game in which Hull have failed to score this campaign.

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