Leigh 10-24 Hull: Hosts suffer defeat

Leigh 10-24 Hull: Match Stats

Leigh tries: Hood (64), Hampshire (73)
Conversions/Penalties:  Reynolds (64)

Hull tries:  Watts (18), Tuimavave (23, 53), Kelly (28)
Conversions/Penalties: Sneyd (18,23,28,53) 

Match report

Leigh suffered their fifth consecutive Betfred Super League defeat at the hands of a Hull FC side who had lost their previous two.

Inspired by half-backs Albert Kelly and Marc Sneyd, Hull scored three tries in quick succession during a devastating 11-minute first-half spell to take a grip on the game.

Centre Carlos Tuimavave scored twice as Hull FC produced the perfect response after conceding more than 50 points in their last two games against Salford Red Devils and Leeds Rhinos.

Leading 18-0 after half an hour, Hull rarely looked in danger against a Leigh side ravaged by injuries.

After an even opening, Hull, on their first ever visit to Leigh Sports Village, took the lead in the 19th minute when prop Liam Watts barged over from close range and Sneyd added the conversion.

Lee Radford's men doubled their advantage moments later as Tuimavave handed off a would-be tackler before racing to the tryline from 20 metres. Sneyd again added the goal.

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It got even better for Hull as Sneyd cleverly kicked through from 20 metres and his half-back partner Kelly read the play perfectly, collecting the ball to score under the posts. Sneyd kicked his third goal.

Leigh, who had not beaten Hull at home since 1988, finished the half strongly and were twice thwarted by desperate Hull defence on their own tryline. Centurions had further chances in the early stages of the second half but they were again undone by Tuimavave, who scored his second try in the 54th minute as he followed up a fine break from Jez Litten. Sneyd successfully added the goal for a 24-0 lead.

There was some consolation for Neil Jukes' men with two tries in the final quarter from Liam Hood and Ryan Hampshire, the former being converted by Ben Reynolds.

But after their dreadful run continued, Leigh will approach Saturday's Ladbrokes Challenge Cup tie against Hull's Championship neighbours Hull KR with some trepidation.

Match reaction

Hull FC coach Lee Radford on ending a run of three games without a win: "I thought we did a really good job today. We defended well when Leigh had sustained spells of pressure and the win gives us something to build on.

"Our away support was phenomenal throughout the game and gave us lifts when we needed it. That has a huge knock-on effect on the performance. The tempo and decision making was better than it has been over the last three or four weeks.

"I was really pleased with how we performed. My confidence as a coach has not been dented one bit in the last few weeks but as a team we looked like we were enjoying defending again."

Leigh coach Neil Jukes: "We had a 12/13 minute blip in that first half but I though we were always in the game. I thought we created enough chances but couldn't get the ball down.

"Defensively I was disappointed with the tries Hull scored. We ticked a lot of boxes for working hard but we have to get a lot tighter in certain areas of our game.

"We need to get a little bit better across the board. It has been a tough few games and we lost Micky Higham with a hamstring injury, which didn't help. We are probably at our peak in terms of being busted but I still fancied us with the side we got out there. We are not a million miles away but we lacked quality as and when we needed it."