Hull FC suffer injury blow during Salford Red Devils clash

Hull FC captain Danny Houghton has been forced off the field during their Round 16 clash with Salford Red Devils having suffered a recurrence of his calf injury.

Veteran hooker Houghton missed the entirety of June with a similar problem – absent for FC’s victory against Leeds Rhinos and defeat to Warrington Wolves, both at the MKM Stadium.

The 35-year-old returned to the Black & Whites‘ squad for Sunday’s trip to Salford, one of four changes to the 21 named by interim head coach Simon Grix.

But his return lasted just 38 minutes as he was replaced by young gun Denive Balmforth two minutes prior to half-time with Hull leading 6-4.

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Hull FC suffer injury blow to captain Danny Houghton during Salford Red Devils clash

Salford levelled things up at 6-6 once the hooter had sounded for half-time via a Marc Sneyd penalty, and come the restart, Sky Sports commentator Stuart Pyke confirmed that Houghton wouldn’t be returning to the field.

The Airlie Birds skipper had changed out of his kit during the half-time break, with Pyke revealing it was an issue with his calf which had forced Houghton off.

If the veteran is ruled out oncemore, he’ll re-join an already extensive absentee list which includes Cam Scott & Jack Ashworth – both injured in that defeat to Warrington prior to the international break.

New recruit Jed Cartwright hasn’t made a first-team appearance yet, picking up a minor foot injury having featured in a win for the club’s reserves against Leigh Leopards’ second-string.

At the time of writing, the Black & Whites now trail Salford 18-12. Winger Tom Briscoe spent the first 10 minutes of the second half in the sin bin for his part in the penalty on the half-time hooter, penalised for a professional foul.

And during that 10 minutes, Salford made the extra man count with two quickfire tries from Ryan Brierley & Chris Hankinson, both converted.

Houghton’s replacement Balmforth however burrowed over just after Briscoe had returned to the field, and with Ben Reynolds’ conversion, the deficit is back to six points – 18-12 the score with 55 minutes on the clock.

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