Ellis delighted as Hull hang on

Hull FC skipper Gareth Ellis was a happy man after his team recorded a 26-24 victory over Castleford on Sunday.

The Arlie Birds raced into an 18-0 lead, but Liam Watts’ dismissal midway through the first half allowed the Tigers to claw their way back into the game.

Despite being a man down, Hull held on to pick up their second win in a row.

“It’s massive – beating Cas who have been flying is a real boost for us,” Ellis told the club’s official website.

“It’s really pleasing to get a win at home after two really big scorelines against us after having big crowds at the KCOM.

“It was really pleasing to put in a performance for them and you could see how proud the fans were of the boys and the effort they put in after going down to 12 men and being able to hang on and still look half decent with the ball and defend so gallantly.

“It was a really tough game. Going down to 12 men when we were in full control of the game it looked like we were going to win at a canter, and then a spanner got thrown into the works and we had to dig deep.

“It took us a while to adjust just after the sending off – the effort was there but we were just trying to solve it ourselves and we got in at half-time and we talked about defending as we needed to.

“We need to not try and solve it, but work as a team and do it that way and we managed to cling on in the end.”