DESPITE a second-half comeback, The Wire were beaten by Hull FC at a bitterly cold KCOM Stadium.

Jack Hughes and Ryan Atkins had crossed to boost hopes of a dramatic comeback after Declan Patton had been sent off and Carlos Tuimavave had crossed to put Hull 18-0 up.

However, Marc Sneyd’s fourth penalty of the night and a further drop goal sealed victory despite Liam Watts joining Patton on the naughty step.

The brave Warrington fans who belied the freezing weather to travel saw their side kept off the scoresheet in the first half, with a Bureta Faraimo try and three Marc Sneyd goals putting the Black and Whites in command.

Both sides took time to adjust to the freezing conditions in East Yorkshire, with the first points not coming until the 20th minute.

Toby King was penalised for an improper play-the-ball, and Sneyd booted over the penalty.

Five minutes later, Hull were over for the first try off the back of a superb 40-20 from Sneyd.

The home scrum-half’s kick was batted back to Sika Manu, who floated a looping ball for Faraimo to cross in the corner.

In attack, Wire were not at the races in the first half and rarely threated the Hull line, with Tyrone Roberts’ misplaced pass to Mitch Brown summing up their fortunes in opposition territory.

Sneyd was able to add another penalty on the stroke of half-time to put the hosts in command at the break.

The incident that lit the blue touch paper proved to be Patton’s red card as he hit Faraimo with a high, swinging arm from behind and referee Ben Thaler gave him his marching orders.

Tuimavave, impressive throughout, came back in off the angle to waltz home to seemingly put Hull out of sight before Wolves stormed back.

First, Hughes crashed through a hole from a short pass to get Wire on the board before Ben Westwood’s superb offload created space for Atkins to slide over, with Stefan Ratchford converting both tries to reduce the lead to just six points.

However, try as they might, Warrington could not trouble the scorers again despite a moment of lunacy from Watts.

He needlessly head-butted Dom Crosby, leaving Thaler no option but to dismiss him, but another Sneyd penalty pushed the lead out to two scores before he added the coup de grace with a drop goal.

Warrington: Ratchford; Lineham, Goodwin, Atkins, M Brown; Patton, Roberts; Hill, Clark, Cooper, Murdoch-Masila, Hughes, Westwood. Subs: Philbin, Akauola, Crosby, T King.