Super League: Warrington Wolves 4-0 Hull FC - Wire end five-game losing run
- Published
Stefan Ratchford's two goals for Warrington mean he is now just two short of 500 in his career
Betfred Super League |
|---|
Warrington (0) 4 |
Goals: Ratchford 2 |
Hull FC (0) 0 |
Warrington ended a five-game losing run as they beat Hull FC in a dour low-scoring Super League fixture.
The two sides played out a stalemate in a scoreless first half, with Stefan Ratchford finally kicking the first points of the match after the break.
Ratchford added a second penalty goal in the second half to narrowly pad out the Wire's lead with 14 minutes left.
Hull could not find a response in a drab game, as they lost for the eighth time in Super League this term.
Warrington ended a five-game losing run, going back to April, with the victory and moved three places behind Hull, who remain fifth and have now lost three games in a row.
Prior to kick-off, Warrington announced, external that Josh Thewlis has signed a new long-term deal to keep him with the club until the end of the 2026 season.
In a first half of few chances, Hull came closest to getting off the mark when Manu Ma'u offloaded to Luke Gale who then failed a head injury assessment after colliding with Gareth Widdop.
The hosts suffered a blow just before the break as Joe Philbin was forced off with a knock to his ankle, but they edged ahead early in the second half through Ratchford's penalty goal.
It was another Ratchford penalty that secured the Wire victory in a fixture that equalled the record for Super League's lowest-scoring game - and it was only the second try-less game in the Super League era.
Warrington Wolves boss Daryl Powell:
"It was crazy, it felt like a final with the tension of it. It was a nervous classic.
"It's crazy we feel like that but that's where we are and to win the game just releases the pressure valve and hopefully we can start to relax and chill out and play the way we want to.
"We had to win tonight regardless of anything, that was the most important thing.
"You can see the pressure everybody is under and you feel it in everything you do.
"Both teams looked nervous, the crowd were nervous, the coach was nervous and we just needed to come out of the other side of it with a victory."
Hull FC boss Brett Hodgson told BBC Radio Humberside:
"I'm unbelievably proud of the effort of the boys. I thought we kept constantly turning up for each other throughout the game.
"The effort was great but effort alone doesn't win games. We obviously hurt when we lost Luke Gale. When your half-back goes off it always impacts your play.
"There was a lack of connection between our halves for the rest of the game. The fact we only had two interchanges for the rest of the game meant it was a war of attrition. The spectacle itself wasn't ideal for rugby league which is disappointing."
Warrington: Widdop, Thewlis, Wrench, Mata'utia, Ashton, Ratchford, Williams, Mulhern, Clark, Cooper, Currie, Holmes, Davis
Interchanges: Philbin, Walker, Harrison, Mikaele
Hull FC: Shaul, McIntosh, Wynne, Vulikijapani, Swift, Lovodua, Gale, Evans, Houghton, Satae, Lane, Ma'u, Sao
Interchanges: Brown, Fash, Hookem, Taylor
Referee: J. Child.