Friday was a disappointing night in many ways for Hull FC.
Hull FC interim head coach Andy Last.
Andy Last believes the penalty against Hull FC back rower Joe Batchelor that saw a try ruled out for Harvey Barron against Castleford Tigers was ‘unjust’.
Batchelor was penalised for making late contact on Castleford half-back Daejarn Asi, whose pass was intercepted by Barron. The Hull winger raced away to score after a strong chase from Tom Weaver, but the whistle had already gone and the play was brought back.
Replays showed Batchelor had put his hands in front of his chest to avoid a more awkward collision with Asi, with the RFL’s Match Review Panel, to no surprise, taking no further action on Monday.
But the decision and lack of clarity from the governing body have frustrated Last, particularly with it being an incident that cost his Hull side four points in an 18-14 defeat – with Castleford kicking a goal after the penalty was given.
“When you’re down the bottom end of the table, you don’t seem to get the outcomes of the decisions,” Last said. “I thought it was a little bit unjust. I’ve had no feedback from the RFL in regard to that decision. I think it was unjust.
“I don’t think Batch did a great deal. I don’t think Daejarn Asi took a dive either to win a penalty. It was a disappointing decision.”
Last also pointed again to the poor performance from his Hull side. He continued: “You make your own luck in this game and there were other opportunities after that where, if we picked the right pass or the right play, we could have scored more points, but what’s disappointing is we’ve lost the game by four points and four points were chalked off.”
Meanwhile, Hull are investigating the lack of a working countdown clock and big screen at the MKM Stadium, which is currently seeing renovation works to improve media facilities, on Friday night, something which frustrated Last post-match.
A club statement read: “The club can confirm it will launch a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding technical issues at the MKM Stadium on Friday evening during our Betfred Super League fixture against Castleford Tigers.
“Due to issues beyond the control of the club, the stadium’s two big screens were not able to be used during the match.
“The MKM Stadium’s match clock and shot clock were therefore both also unavailable during the match because of this.
“The club will be liaising with the stadium operations team in the coming days to resolve this.
“We would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused to all supporters in attendance at the fixture.”