
Wakefield Trinity boss Daryl Powell accused Hull counterpart John Cartwright of influencing the referee as FC finally got their first home win in 355 DAYS. The Black and Whites’ horror show at MKM Stadium looked in danger of stretching past the year mark when they trailed 10-0 against Wakefield in the second half.
But prolific winger Lewis Martin crossed in the 66th minute, taking three Trinity defenders with him, to seal a brilliant comeback and a first home victory in 12 games.
However, Trinity Powell claimed Hull counterpart Cartwright had got to official James Vella in the tunnel after his side didn’t receive a single first-half penalty.
The hosts, who now replaced Wakefield in sixth spot, fired back with the help of winning the second-half penalty count 8-0.
Powell, who had seen Max Jowitt score a try and three goals in the first half, said: “I didn’t like what happened at half-time in the tunnel. He’s influenced things there, saying what the penalty count was.
“John was saying some words in ear-shot. He wasn’t being aggressive. Listen, I’ve done it in the past. But it shouldn’t work. And I thought it worked. I think it has and the game’s completely flipped on its head.
“He completely flipped his decision-making. We got none [penalties]. I’m not sure they got any in the first half. It probably should have been a bit more even either way.
“I thought that was an influence. Is it the main one? I just don’t think we handled the second half well. And we have to hold our hands up to that. But I don’t think a referee should ever be influenced.”
Powell added: “It was two contrasting halves, really. We weren’t ever great. It was a real scrappy game.
“Obviously we dominated territory first half and then second half I don’t know what happened to us to be honest. They played better. They were pretty poor in the first half.
“But the tries we conceded I can’t find a word for them. I just thought they were incredibly soft. We got beat for intent and attitude in the second half. It was really disappointing.
“We lost to Hull KR a couple of weeks ago and I didn’t have much trouble with that. But that was bad as we’ve been second half.
“We should all be disappointed with what we’ve delivered in second half. I thought we were going to go on with it and clearly we didn’t.”