After Hull's third victory in a row, this time against a Preston side looking to push into the top four, Hull's senior coach John Widdowson paid tribute to the whole squad.
He said, "Wins like this are built on team work which includes all the squad and as the pattern of play band the efficient work of all the units comes together wins will follow."
Hull's forwards always had the edge in the scrummage and lineout in this encounter and that gave them the platform for a thrilling victory in a free flowing game full of incident.
Hull's eventual victory seemed a long way off at the start of the game as Preston stormed to the Hull line straight from the kick-off and were denied a first minute try by inches as Preston were adjudged to have grounded the ball just short of the line. The visitors remained encamped in Hull's 22 metre area and Preston's fly-half Holdroyd kicked a fourth minute penalty to put his side ahead. Hull then settled to their task and on ten minutes a superb short pass from Hull's centre White saw his midfield partner Slingsby race over under the posts enabling fly-half James Cameron to add the points to see Hull into the lead. Preston were trying to move the ball at every opportunity but Hull's forwards were powerful at the lineout and a catch and drive from 20 yards out after 29 minutes saw Devonshire credited with Hull's second try. The half drew to its close with Holroyd kicking two more penalties for Preston and Cameron one for Hull to leave the score Hull 15 9 Preston at half time.
The second half resumed at the same high intensity of the first and Preston grabbed back the lead after a minute of the second half as Wallace broke free after Hull failed to catch the kick off Holroyd's conversion putting Preston 16-15 in the lead. Hull's Cameron regained the lead for Hull with a simple penalty but this was short-lived as a few minutes later Preston's winger Baines picked up a loose ball and beat four would-be tackles on his way to a spectacular try in the corner. Holroyd was unable to convert but Preston had regained the lead.
At this stage Hull brought on substitute winger Will Robinson and his first touch saw him take a pass forty yards out rounding the full-back to score in the corner once again giving Hull the lead. Although Cameron was uanble to convert he made no mistake when ten minutes later Hull sealed their victory when winger Piercy followed an astute kick to gather the ball, cut inside two defenders, and score near the posts. Despite some serious attempts by the visitors to close the gap, Hull's forwards took a vital lineout ball to end the game deserved winners of a thrilling game.
Report by Richard Gore