Hull 40-18 Wakefield: Seventh heaven for Hull

Match stats: Hull 40-18 Wakefield

Hull tries: Shaul (16,68), Talanoa (20), Connor (59), Sneyd (63), Fonua (75), Turgut (77)
Hull conversions:  Sneyd (16,59,63,68,75,77)

Wakefield tries: Batchelor (28), Williams (33), Lyne (44)
Wakefield conversions: Finn (28,33,44)

Match report

Hull FC consolidated their Betfred Super League top-four credentials with a 40-18 victory over fifth-placed Wakefield Trinity at the KCOM Stadium.

Hull ran in seven tries to Wakefield's three as they stretched their winning run to four matches, with the returning Marc Sneyd kicking six goals. Liam Finn managed three kicks for Trinity.

Craig Huby and Mahe Fonua both received yellow cards before Jamie Shaul's 17th try of the season and Fetuli Talanoa's acrobatic finish put Hull 10-0 up after 20 minutes.

Wakefield hit back to nudge 12-10 ahead at the break with two tries of their own through James Batchelor and Sam Williams, before former Hull centre Reece Lyne scored from close range to extend Trinity's lead to 18-10 shortly after the restart.

Tries from Jake Connor and Sneyd turned the match around for Hull before a tremendous solo effort from Shaul and late tries from Fonua and Jansin Turgut sealed victory for Hull, lifting them to second in the table.

Wakefield started the match in positive fashion and nearly broke the deadlock in the fifth minute through Lyne following a risky passing move on the final tackle - but the centre was stopped just short by a stubborn Hull defence.

Tensions were raised on the 12-minute mark when a high tackle on Steve Michaels from Huby saw the Trinity forward and Black and White centre Fonua receive 10 minutes in the sin-bin after both players threw punches in a melee.

Defence continued to dominate the game but a great sidestep from second row Danny Washbrook finally breached the Wakefield defensive line, before the supporting Shaul crossed under the posts and gave Hull the lead - Sneyd converting.

It was not long before the hosts extended their advantage when back-to-back penalties put the Black and Whites in good field position deep in Wakefield's half, before a flowing move from right-to-left found Talanoa to dive in the corner and put the hosts 10-0 up.

A powerful break from Bill Tupou saw Trinity advance up the field before a neat set-play worked its way to Batchelor to puncture the Hull line for his side's first try.

This gave the visitors some momentum and a clever kick in behind from the dangerous Williams resulted in another set after Shaul was hauled into his own in-goal area. Wakefield took advantage of the goal-line drop-out when Williams spotted a gap to dot down and hand Trinity the lead for the first time in the match, which they took into half-time.

Wakefield moved further ahead five minutes after the break when a huge cross-field 40/20 from full-back Simon Grix put the visitors on the front foot, with Lyne bulldozing his way over from dummy half to punish his former side.

Both sides had tries ruled out for a forward passes before the hosts got back into the contest with 20 minutes remaining in bizarre circumstances.

Hull worked their way into the Wakefield 20-metre line when a chipped kick from Sneyd was gathered by Kyle Wood - but the visiting hooker inexplicably passed the ball straight to Black and White half-back Connor, who strolled in under the posts to make it a two-point game.

The hosts soon regained the lead through Sneyd as he jinked his way past the Wakefield defence to set himself an easy kick, before a piece of brilliance from Shaul gave Hull a two-score cushion.

The full-back played at dummy half in his own half before he picked up a quick play-the-ball from Fonua and spotted a gap in the defence behind the markers, using his pace to outsprint five Wakefield defenders and cross the whitewash for the second try of the match.

There was still time for Hull to increase their lead as a powerful drive and offload from Sika Manu set Fonua free to score in the corner, before Turgut crashed over with four minutes left to condemn the visitors to their third successive defeat in all competitions.

Match reaction

Hull coach Lee Radford on his side's late scoring burst: "I would have been a hell of a lot happier if we started like that and then fell off because I think that would have been understandable. We don't like to do things the right way round.

"It was 100 per cent mental. We started really poor in terms of our contact. Poor in terms of our patience but managed to fix that up in the last 20-25 minutes.

"It's not the first time that we have done that this season. We have done it a couple of times this year - thankfully they are a talented enough group to do that within games. I think that was the case tonight.

"I lost my stuff at half-time, I won't lie to you. I was really frustrated.

"I showed them a couple of clips where they (Wakefield) marched up the pitch for 80 metres. I put a load of F's in there and F-bombs in there for them and asked them to show a response and thankfully we got that."

Wakefield coach Chris Chester: "I felt we had the upper hand until about the 60-minute mark. We were knocking the sets off well, we were kicking well, I thought we were defending very tough as well but that last 20 minutes I really don't know what happened.

"We have got to react better to adversity. It swung the momentum. I will question the mental toughness of some of our middles tonight. We gave away a soft try but the very next set we gave a penalty away and (they) score again. It's just not good enough.

"They know that and I know that - and we have got to be a lot better. Hull started off really well, they probably caught us hopping a little bit and looked like the side with most energy for the first 20 minutes.

"But we got a foothold in the game. Some smart plays and good kicking and some real tough defence but the last 20 - I think some of the guys waved the white flag a bit too soon."