Hull's Head Coach, John Widdowson, said after another disappointing defeat that Hull's confidence was high and having put right most of what had gone wrong the previous week it was hard to see his side score the only try and yet lose again by a very small margin.
Hull looked to have the edge for long periods but eventually the slightly more consistent kicking of Huddersfield's play maker and off half Johnson stole the game for the home side.
Heavy rain greeted the players at kick-off and was unrelenting for an hour of the game. It quickly became clear that neither side was going to be able to play an open game and passing errors with a wet ball were frequent. After 9 minutes of play Huddersfield took advantage of a penalty 40 yards out for Johnson to kick the first of his three penalties.
Hull's forwards were driving well and trying to keep the ball recycled and they had their reward when a forward drive started by Ollie Cook, Hull's No. 8, was finished off when his brother, Dan Cook, was driven over the line by the rest of the pack to give Hull a deserved lead. Cameron's conversion from wide out gave Hull a 7-3 advantage after just 13 minutes.
With the conditions dictating, both sides were using their kicking game to establish field position but a series of dropped passes and infringements at the rucks meant that neither team could mount a real threat.
It was after 27 minutes that the next score came after a Hull attack broke down deep in the Huddersfield half and their counter attack was halted at a ruck when Hull offended 30 yards out, Huddersfield's Johnson stepped up only to put his penalty attempt wide.
The remainder of the half was notable for the Yellow cards handed to Hull's Devonshire and Huddersfield's Captain and No. 8 Hyde, and Hull's Cameron missing a difficult penalty attempt from 45 yards out.
The second half saw Hull replace try scorer Dan Cook with Chris Murphy in the second row, with Kris Fullman coming on for the impressive Will Dutton, Hull's pack continued to give a good account of themselves. Huddersfield had no answer to Hull's scrummaging and were shoved off their own ball when in a good attacking position early in the second half.
With the rain easing a little, both sides became more adventurous but handling was still difficult. After 62 minutes a period of Hull pressure resulted in a penalty award 40 yards out and Cameron could only watch as his well struck effort drifted inches wide.
Huddersfield were awarded a similar opportunity two minutes later and Johnson converted to make the score 7-6 in Hull's favour.
With the game fast approaching its final stages a period of great Hull pressure in the Huddersfield 22 area broke down as a pass was dropped allowing Huddersfield to sweep up field with a series of deft passes. The move was halted illegally by Hull and Huddersfield's Johnson was on hand to coolly land his third and decisive penalty from 40 yards out.
Despite having put forward subs Gravil and Lewis into the game for the final 15 minutes Hull's foward threat was negated by uncontested scrums in the last quarter and Hull were left to ponder another defeat in a game they had looked like winning for 60 minutes.
Richard Gore