Andy Last has said he is “immensely proud” of his players, coaching staff team, and those behind-the-scenes at the Black & Whites for playing their part in a brave performance against Leeds Rhinos at Emerald Headingley Stadium last night.
Hull went down 40-22, but made a good account of themselves for long periods of the game despite less than 24 hours notice of the fixture, having stepped in tom replace Castleford late on who were unable to field a side against the Rhinos.
And despite the Airlie Birds having 13 players of their own missing, Hull stuck with the Rhinos for long periods of the gam, with Last saying: “I’m immensely proud of the players but disappointed with aspects of the performance.
“There was a chance of us getting them tonight and during a key period, we didn’t manage to take our chances. If Bureta takes the chance in the corner from the Marc Sneyd kick, we go 16-0 up.
“There was a period just before and after half-time where we didn’t get the impact off the bench we wanted, and our tackle efficiency wasn’t where it should have been. Leeds cranked up the pressure and had momentum on their side and helped push the scoreboard on in their favour and it was always going to be an uphill battle.”
Despite the unique circumstances going into the game, Last said his side were confident they could earn a result with Leeds potentially having one eye on the Challenge Cup Final.
“We was really confident and the way started showed that. Obviously they’re preparing for Wembley – we’ve been in that position before in the space between a semi-final win and a final coming up. That emotional high and the impact of playing in a big match like that can take it out of you, and you might have an eye on preserving your body for the final.
“So we spoke about getting off to a good start but we missed the opportunity to push on with our early lead and they came down the other end and came up with a score.
“I’m proud of their effort but that is the minimum requirement I expect every week. At short notice, they did a brilliant job but there are some lessons to be learnt ahead of Tuesday’s game against Huddersfield.”
And Last says despite Hull sitting in seventh place with just six games remaining, the Black & Whites will not give up on their play-off hopes.
“When you look at the fixtures and the games coming up, all the teams above us are going to be taking points off each other.
“So the challenge to get into the top four might not be quite as tough as we think – we’ve just got to do everything we can from now until the end of the season.”
Describing how a hectic 24 hours played out, Last explained: “It’s been a crazy whirlwind 24 hour period. From eight o’clock yesterday morning until about midnight last night, there was stuff going on behind-the-scenes and I had my mobile phone stuck to my ear.
“I was in contact with the CEO and members of the coaching staff constantly, trying to do the bst thing for the game and the club.
“It wasn’t ideal preparation, but we did the best we can. The staff have done a fantastic job to do what they can to prepare the boys for this game. And that showed as we made a good account of ourselves.
“We managed to get a video preview together and did a walk-through Captain’s Run in the morning, but its just a shame as I really thought for periods in that game we had a real chance.”