Houghton says defeat is not a crisis

Hull FC’s Danny Houghton says the team are eager to put Saturday’s crushing defeat against St Helens behind them when they return to action next weekend.

The Arlie Birds’ five-game unbeaten run was ended as Saints recorded a 45-0 success, but Houghton believes they can put things right at home to Leigh on Friday.

“It’s something we need to address quickly because we don’t want to go back-to-back defeats – we need to make sure we’re back on the horse on Friday night,” he told the club’s official website.

“It’s even more disappointing because it was a real opportunity for us to make a claim for the top of the table and sit pretty, but there’s no crisis.

“I’d say that was a performance they needed to impress the new coach and you would always expect that motivation from them with him in the stand. But that isn’t in our hands and we didn’t control everything we could have done.

“Saints wanted it more than we did – we didn’t turn up with the right intent and got fairly beaten and all credit to St Helens.”