WOLVES’ under 19s head coach Danny Fullerton has praised his young side’s resilience after they opened their season with a hard-fought victory over Hull FC at Wilderspool Stadium.

Having opened a comfortable lead at the break, Wolves’ youngsters were forced to weather a significant fightback from the Black and Whites and impressed their coach in the process.

“I am absolutely delighted for the boys and everyone involved to get the season off to a winning start in a pulsating game,” he said.

“We have worked extremely hard in pre-season and credit is due to Jake Batsford and John Thursfield for the excellent strength and conditioning work they have done with the whole squad that has got them into superb physical condition.

“That hard work has paid off, with that high level showing.

“We had to defend for long periods, especially in the second half, and we did that extremely well on the whole.

“The fact that we conceded six tries does not do justice to how well our goal line ‘D’ was; most of their tries came from breakaway’s from their own half.”

Wolves’ centres Toby King and Harvey Livett contributed three of the hosts’ six tries, while second row Joe Philbin added two further efforts in a fine individual performance.

Fullerton highlighted all three as important factors in his side’s opening week victory.

“Our centre pairing of Toby King and Harvey Livett both had excellent games,” he said.

“Toby continuing from where he left off last year, while Harvey came up with some important plays in his first game at this level and helped himself to a fine try along with five conversions that ended up being the difference at the end of the day.

“Our back row of Joe Philbin, Sam Wilde and Ryan Maneely worked tirelessly in defence and attack and all three put in great 80-minute performances.

“We know that we still have areas to improve but the lads have set themselves high standards in training and this afternoon so we can now go forward with optimism as we prepare for next Saturday’s long trip to London Broncos.”