St Helens go fourth as Hull FC's home woes continue

Kyle Feldt's two tries for St Helens were decisive in their narrow victory over Hull FC

Betfred Super League

Hull FC (0) 6

Tries: Litten Goals: Hardaker

St Helens (8) 13

Tries: Feldt 2 Goals: Lomax 2 Drop Goal: Lomax

St Helens held off Hull FC to claim a hard-fought victory at MKM Stadium in week 17 of Super League.

Two tries from Australian winger Kyle Feldt, plus two kicks and a drop goal from captain Jonny Lomax, earned in-form Saints a sixth win from their past seven matches.

Hull centre Davy Litten had given the hosts hope of a comeback when he dived over to score in the second half but they remain without a home win this season.

Saints move above Leeds Rhinos up to fourth in Super League while Hull drop to seventh following Wakefield's hammering of Catalans Dragons at Belle Vue.

In the opening exchanges, Curtis Sironen's line break created an overload on the left wing but terrific scrambling defending from Harvey Barron and Zak Hardaker prevented a certain four points for Saints.

Moments later, after Hull were caught offside, Saints came again and Feldt pirouetted past Aidan Sezer to score for the visitors before Lomax added the extras from the touchline.

After soaking up sustained Saints pressure, the hosts looked to counter-punch but Jed Cartwright - making his first appearance for four months because of injury - was unable to offload to Litten when he was just five yards short of the opposition line.

Perhaps frustrated by not making their 61% first-half possession more telling, Saints allowed ill-discipline to creep in and Moses Mbye could have been sent to the sin bin for a late tackle on Hardaker - but just a penalty was awarded instead.

Just before the interval, Hull worked the ball left and winger Lewis Martin catapulted himself to the line but a terrific try-saving tackle from Saints' Harry Robertson thwarted him to keep the hosts score to nil at the break.

Five minutes into the second half, Mbye's high kick to the corner was gathered brilliantly by Feldt, who climbed highest and rolled past two Hull players to claim his second try of the match.

In the 53rd minute, Hull finally clicked into gear when captain Sezer raced through midfield and unselfishly found Litten to finish expertly under pressure from Robertson for the hosts' only score.

After Hardaker nailed the extras from touch, the home fans attempted to lift their side but time and again handling errors prevented meaningful surges forward.

With just a few minutes left, Sezer's high kick to Barron in the corner was brilliantly claimed in the air by Saints' Owen Dagnall, who had passed a head injury assessment not long earlier to return to the field after a worrying collision.

Down the other end, a rare error from Barron allowed Saints to regain the ball and eventually it was set back to Lomax, whose drop-goal in front of the sticks closed out the win for the visitors.

St Helens captain Jonny Lomax added five points with the boot

'Resilience and effort was top-class' - reaction

Hull FC boss John Cartwright:

"I saw some really tough efforts and that's where we need to be.

"I know what they're capable of, the tough thing to get right is getting blokes to keep trying when things aren't going your way and they're doing it for us in spades.

"I probably sound like a broken record but I love the way they stay together and work for each other."

St Helens head coach Paul Wellens:

"Toughness is probably the word that comes to mind. We looked like a team that enjoyed being in that type of encounter and were comfortable – I've probably questioned that in the past.

"We know there's bits of our game we need to work on if we want to take that next step as a team but what I can't fault is the group's resilience and effort, I thought it was top-class.

"If you've got that type of toughness in you, you can win games when you're perhaps not at your best."

Hull FC: Hardaker; Barron, Rapana, Litten, Martin; Cust, Sezer; Ese'ese, Bourouh, Knight, Ashworth, Chamberlain, Aydin

Interchanges: Briscoe, Cartwright, Fash, Eseh

St Helens: Sailor; Feldt, Robertson, Whitley, Dagnall; Lomax, Mbye; Walmsley, Clark, Lees, Sironen, Wingfield, Knowles

Interchanges: Paasi, Delaney, Stephens, Burns

Referee: Liam Moore.