Radford: Hull need to be better from the off

Hull FC boss Lee Radford says his players never gave up hope of a comeback at Widnes on Sunday, but admitted it’s not something he wants to see on a regular basis.

The Vikings led 22-4 at the break, but Hull roared back in the second half to secure a 33-22 victory and close the gap on Castleford to a point at the top of the table.

“I’m pleased after that – we gave ourselves a really difficult job to do because of the start we made,” said Radford.

“We were 16 points down and conceded again, but we scored before the break and that gave us a chance.

“We were out-enthused in every department in the first half. Every energy indicator – we were second best in that first half. We showed the lads some clips in half-time why we were in the situation we were in.

“We needed something more and we needed some energy and we eventually got it. We got the response and we found a way to win.

“We wanted to get Albert (Kelly) carrying the ball a bit more and he managed to do that. We could have made it even easier in the end as we bombed some chances.

“The group know that comebacks like that are possible, but we don’t want to be doing that. We want to be on the front foot from the off.”