After four defeats on the trot, the talk around our weekly pre-match press conferences had become very much along the lines of Hull FC almost needing to fall over the line to get a much-needed win, for obvious reasons. Their last victory, however, was a 50-point thrashing of Castleford Tigers at the OneBore Stadium, which pointed to the fact that, despite the frailties of the opposition that night, this Hull FC team can score points when given the opportunity.

On Saturday afternoon, the current worst team in the Betfred Super League arrived at the MKM Stadium for a game that they also would have seen as an opportunity to get a W against their name, given Hull’s recent struggles and their lengthening injury list. Huddersfield even had the temerity to take the lead from a questionable try, which was awarded even though Oliver Russell appeared to have put his hand over the dead-ball line before grounding the ball, and at that point, we all thought ‘here we go again’ for the Black & Whites.

However, two excellent tries later, both goaled by former Giants player Aidan Sezer, and the Airlie Birds were very much in the driving seat with a half-time lead, which Andy Last said afterwards was a big psychological edge for his side. Credit must go to the visitors as they mounted some serious pressure on the Hull line in the third quarter of the game, with Jim Lenihan saying afterwards that they had put themselves into a position to potentially win the match, being only one score down after 50 to 55 minutes, before the floodgates opened.

This is what surprised me most about the win for the Black & Whites, there was suddenly no feeling of having to ‘fall over the line’ to get this win, there were actually some very neat, crisp tries taken with genuine glee, which simply had this match wrapped up and finished long before the final hooter, it was like they had found a pair of scissors in the changing room and simply cut their way through a paper-like defence. Basically, what I’m saying here is that it felt like a simple regulation win, one that had been expected all along, even though I know from personal experience that was far from the case.

People will, undoubtedly, point out that it was against the team at the bottom of the league, quite rightly so. But I will also point out, it was a team who claimed their first win of a desperate season away to Wigan, which absolutely nobody saw coming, and who now have a new unknown quantity in new head coach Jim Lenihan, whose CV speaks for itself, and tells a tale of someone who can certainly turn this whole sorry episode around for the team from the birthplace of our sport.

Has Hull turned a corner with this victory? I would be more tempted to say, rather than a corner, they have probably just turned an incline. They were playing the team at the bottom of the league table; however, after going behind early, and potentially staring down the barrel of another damaging defeat, they turned it around and seriously won at a bit of a canter in the end.

The importance, however, must be the fact that, had they succumbed to defeat, that losing run would now be five games, and with upcoming games against Wakefield Trinity, Wigan Warriors and their nearest and dearest, and absolutely most despised, that could have been very likely to extend to an eight-game losing streak, but for that very normal feeling victory in the Saturday afternoon sunshine.

Written by Ian Judson (Site contributor & Hull FC fan)