Harvey Barron and Charlie Severs scored braces as Hull FC Reserves came from behind to beat Salford Red Devils Reserves 40-20 on Saturday afternoon.
Manoa Wacokecoke, Severs and Barron got Hull in front at the interval, having fallen 10-0 behind to early tries from Callum Hughes and Myles Dalton-Harrop.
Severs and Barron both claimed second-half doubles, whilst Denive Balmforth and Callum Rutland helped Hull FC Reserves onto a first win of 2022 at Moat Hall Sports Centre.
The Match
In the worst possible start for the visitors, Kye Armstrong was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle as Hull defended their first set of the match. From the resulting penalty, Hughes sidestepped his way past one tackler and darted over from dummy half under the posts.
The hosts took further advantage of their extra man whilst Amstrong remained sidelined. Despite Davy Litten and Severs’ heroic efforts to hold up an earlier attack in the set, the ball was shifted to the left and Dalton-Harrop squeezed through a hole to score Salford’s second try.
Hull managed to withstand another couple of waves of Salford attacks once Armstrong had returned from the sin-bin and the visitors posted their first points of the afternoon when Rutland picked the perfect pass to Wacokecoke, breaking the line at speed and scoring under the sticks.
Rutland was involved at the heart of the action once again when Hull drew level with just under half-an-hour played, again picking a short pass, this time to Severs, who did his best to fend off two would-be tacklers on his way towards the whitewash.
Starting to flex their muscle, Hull took the lead thanks to a quick play-the-ball from Will Gardiner. A good set play saw the ball travel through the hands of Mackenzie Harman and Litten, before finding its way to Barron for a spectacular finish in the corner.
HALF-TIME: Red Devils 10-18 Hull
On debut for the club, Balmforth profited from an offload close to the line and the former Warrington youngster needed no second invitation to score his first try for the Black & Whites.
But the Red Devils were proving a tricky outfit to brush aside. When Jack Stevens offloaded to Henry Davies, the back-rower had a free passage to score underneath the posts to keep the hosts within arms length of FC.
Hull were in no mood to give the hosts a leg up, though, and Severs punished them for another ball-handling error. Scooping up after a loose carry out of yardage, the second-rower cantered over from ten metres out.
As the Black & Whites looked to take a step closer to victory, Rutland grabbed a try of his own. He grubber kicked through into the in-goal area, managing to round Morgan Escare and dot the ball down before it ran dead. The halfback converted his own try to give Hull a 36-16 lead with just over ten minutes remaining.
Escare was involved in the action at the other end of the field shortly after, though, providing an assist for Callum Green to score in the left corner.
Although at this stage, a comeback still remained highly unlikely, and Hull rubber stamped their win with perhaps the try of the day. Litten made a quicksilver break down the left edge, and despite being tackled 15 metres short of the try line, the visitors recycled the ball on the next play, with some lovely hands sending Barron over in the right corner for his brace.
FULL-TIME: Red Devils 20-40 Hull
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Squads & Scorers
Hull: Litten, Barron, Wacokecoke, Walker, Opie-Palmer, Harman, Rutland, Laidlaw, Balmforth, Burrell, Jebson, Severs, Armstrong
Hull Interchanges: Bursell, Gardiner, Petrie, Staveley
Hull Tries: Wacokecoke, Severs (2), Barron (2), Balmforth, Rutland
Hull Goals: Rutland (6/7)
Red Devils: Escare, Green, Dalton-Harrop, Hall, Rourke, Stevens, T Hughes, Luckley, C Hughes, Terrill, Unsworth, Davies, Worrall
Red Devils Interchanges: Holt, Coope-Franklin, Lee, Sherratt, Connell
Red Devils Tries: C Hughes, Dalton-Harrop, Davies, Green
Red Devils Goals: Green (2/4)
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