Hull FC were home winners again.
John Cartwright believes Hull FC have ‘put to bed’ any lingering doubts about their ability to perform at home. The Black and Whites produced a strong performance to defeat Leigh Leopards on Saturday evening, earning their third home win of the season.
In fact, it’s their third successive home win after the duck was ended against Wakefield Trinity last month. Hull then defeated a patched-up Salford Red Devils side before getting past the Leythers – a massive win in the contest of their season.
The victory, all based on hard work, keeps Hull in sixth spot with five rounds to go, three of which are at home, with any talk of home worries now a thing of the past as Hull continue their resurgence under their head coach this year.
“I think we’ve put that to bed,” Cartwright said post-match. “We’re not Wigan and we’re not Hull KR, but we’re a side that is working really hard to get there.
“If anyone thinks we’re going to be winning that amount of games in the season from where we’ve come from, that’s a pipedream, but we’re working hard to get there and we will get there, but at the moment, we’re just happy with what we’re doing. We’re still in contention with five games to go.”
Cartwright continued: “It gives you belief, winning games like that, but you need the hard work that goes into it; every game is different and we start again next week with a new team again. It will be 0-0 and we need to keep turning up – and we will. We’ll keep turning up with that will and guts and see where it takes us.”
Hull had a strong completion rate to drive them to victory on Saturday. It’s been an area of inconsistency this season, but Hull made just four errors against Salford and completed in the high 90s.
That saw them transition from attack to defence well and get into a rhythm. They were led superbly by the likes of John Asiata (who limped off with a hamstring injury in the second half) and Zak Hardaker at various points of the game, playing with good shape and looking dangerous for it. That allowed them to turn the ball over in good areas and get fired up with line speed and good contact in defence.
“It’s a balance, footy,” Cartwright said. “For your attack to work well you’ve got to defend well and to defend your well, your attack has got to be working well. And while you’re controlling the game and you’re kicking into the corners, you get the energy to do what we did. It was almost a really complete performance in the first 40 minutes.
“We did a really good job in the second half as well – there was a lot of personnel change and we lost a bit of composure with the ball, which is totally understandable when we lost the players that we lost. And on the back of that comes grit and determination and that was there for everyone to see.”
And as for the home crowd, Cartwright, who looked emotionally exhausted in the west stand as he rode every play, added: “I am – trust me. I love watching footy up there as I’m on my own. I can go away, kick a can and come back and watch the footy.
“But for the souls that turned up, it’s fantastic. It’s a big part of what we talk about every week, and they’re a big part of what we do. They provide a great atmosphere, and they help us when things are tough.
“To get a win like that at the end of the game – that’s how you want to win. It’s no good going through it all, but when the siren goes and you’ve won, it’s hard not to be happy.
“We will enjoy that one and see how everyone is on Monday. We’ve got a Friday game over at St Helens – that certainly won’t be easy. But if we win all our games, then we’ll be there (in the play-offs), and even if we lose one, I still think we can be there. I don’t want to put that pressure on us just yet.”