Super League: Wakefield Wildcats 26-16 Hull FC

Jacob Miller scored a try and kicked five goals for Wakefield against his former club

Bottom club Wakefield ended a run of 16 successive Super League defeats with a 26-16 home win over Hull FC.

They fought back from 16-0 down to secure a first league win since 15 February - and a first under head coach Brian Smith, who was appointed in May.

Jacob Miller, Richard Owen, Joe Arundel and Matt Ryan scored tries, with Miller adding five goals with the boot.

Wakefield are seven points adrift of 11th-placed Salford and cannot reach the Super Eights.

They must compete for Super League survival in the Qualifiers when the top two divisions split into three groups of eight clubs later this month.

During their barren Super League run, Wakefield beat Halifax in the Challenge Cup before crashing out to Championship side Leigh in the last 16.

Brian Smith is the older brother of Warrington Wolves coach Tony Smith

A Hull win would have taken them into the top eight but they succumbed to a Wakefield team freshened up by the inclusion of new signings Kevin Locke, Jordan Tansey and Michael Sio.

The home side lost influential half-back Tim Smith to a knee injury just before kick-off and they paid for a slow start, conceding soft tries to Kirk Yeaman and Liam Watts in the first seven minutes.

Jordan Rankin extended the lead soon afterwards from close range, but Wakefield responded magnificently.

Miller's individual effort started the comeback, while New Zealand international full-back Locke had a key role in creating scores for Owen and Arundel, who marked his 100th career appearance with a try.

Half-back Miller slotted over a penalty to put the Wildcats ahead for the first time, and they began to sense victory when second-rower Ryan powered over.

Former Hull man Miller kicked the resulting goal and another penalty to settle any nerves in the closing minutes.

Wakefield coach Brian Smith: "There is a lot of relief in there. There's been a lot of people working for that, chiseling away and trying to get over the hump for 16 games.

"The players have been working hard to get there and they had to work the hardest way tonight, coming from 16-0 down but they did it well in the end.

"We were very disappointing in those early minutes and I think I've got to look at myself and what I'm doing there because that's three really sluggish starts in a row."

Hull coach Lee Radford: "We had highlighted the importance of this fixture and what a difficult this place is to come to. Our record at this ground is terrible. It's always a dogfight here and I expected to scrape it if we were going to get a result.

"But after that 15-minute period we didn't give ourselves a chance to get any momentum back.

"Our energy looked fine at the start but a couple of calls went against us, a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes and back-to-back penalties and before you know it the game has gone."

Wakefield: Locke; Owen, Arundel, Lyne, Tansey; Godinet, Miller; Scruton, McShane, Simon, Ryan, Kirke, Molloy.

Replacements: Washbrook, Annakin, Kavanagh, Sio.

Hull FC: Shaul; Naughton, Talanoa, Yeaman, Michaels; Abdull, Rankin; Watts, Houghton, Paea, Sa, Ellis, Westerman.

Replacements: Bowden, Green, Hadley, Thompson.

Referee: Joe Cobb.

Attendance: 3,543