Radford: We went down fighting

Despite not making the grand final next week Hull FC head coach Lee Radford was pleased by the manner in which his team came back against Wigan after looking dead and buried at half-time.

Hull FC were down 14-0 at half-time but roared back to poke their noses in front, until tries to Sam Powell and Anthony Gelling sealed the Warriors’ win.

“Just too much of a hill to climb I suppose from the first half,” Radford told Sky Sports.

“The difference in kicking game and the way they finished their sets to the way we finished ours in the first period ultimately got us that far behind.

“A really good effort in the second half and I don’t mind going down like that.

“At least we played a bit of football and had a bit of intent in what we did.

Radford admitted the second half was similar to the performance when they beat Warrington in the Challenge Cup Final.

“That last 40 minutes definitely,” he said.

“We have defended well in the Super 8s but with the ball we haven’t been where we have needed to be.”