Simon Grix has reflected on his first win as interim head coach of the Black & Whites, as FC claimed an 18-10 victory over the Rhinos on Saturday at the MKM Stadium.
The Black & Whites rounded off Hull&Proud Week by bringing to an end their painful losing streak with a much-improved performance against Rohan Smith’s side in often torrid conditions in West Hull.
Late scores in the first-half from Lewis Martin and Denive Balmforth put Hull in control, before Cam Scott’s third for the Airlie Birds put the hosts in control for the remainder of the contest.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Grix said: “It’s different from what it has felt like over the last couple of months. We’re relieved, and it’s a reward for some persistence and hard work. They’ve not been getting the results, and everyone is fast to bag you, but they have been working hard; they just haven’t been getting large parts of it right.
“Today, we got more right than we got wrong. I thought we still could have made it a little bit easier for ourselves, and we still have a long way to go to get to where we’d like to be, but it’s progress and two points.
“I’d have taken a dog-awful performance so long as we got two points, but I thought we did okay. We showed a lot of scramble and a lot of commitment to each other and the jersey, which is important. We’ve been on the road for a number of weeks, and to come back home with a win is really pleasing.”
Grix continued: “I thought we started poor. They rolled us for five or ten minutes until we got into the game. Fortunately, we were able to scramble and hang on during that period. That has hurt us in games gone by where we have conceded really early and we have given ourselves a real uphill battle.
“To have the scoreboard in our favour at half-time was nice, and our lads grew off the back of it. Their energy, scramble, and commitment together were visible. Leeds will claim that they weren’t perfect, and they weren’t, but I thought we made some of that happen.
“We kept moving for each other. We had fighting spirit and we showed spades of it. We built confidence through the game. We scored a couple and we probably left a couple more out there, to be honest. Our energy got us home.”
Grix praised all three of his incoming players on Saturday afternoon in Denive Balmforth, Carlos Tuimavave and Lewis Martin
“Denive got an opportunity, and I’m glad he gave us a little bit of an insight into what he is about. He’s still got a long way to go, but he’s got some real qualities. If he wants to try harder and put that work in, he’s got plenty in front of him.
“Carlos has been out for 14 weeks in total, and to get through eighty minutes and to have some significant moments was really good for him. Lewis came in for Harvey (Barron) who had a head knock and was really strong as well.”
Simon Grix is proudly sponsored by Rowe Freight.
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