Wire fan and published author Rob Watson – aka Spirit of 55 – has his say on the win at Hull FC...

AFTER battling past Castleford last week, Wire continued on the upwards curve with this performance, helped by a display by Hull FC that could politely be described as poor.

Wire were excellent in defence, many of Hull’s errors could be described as forced to one extent or another.

So far in Super League these two teams have probably had a bigger difference between their best performance and their worst than any other team in the league, making this one a difficult game to predict

In the first half Wire looked the better side but were perhaps lacking enough confidence to assert any dominance.

Early on, Austin gave us a flashback to his performance in this fixture last season, going through the heart of the Hull defence and just managing to reach over to score the opening try.

Turning down an easy attempt at goal with a six-point lead did at least show some belief in their attack, but close to the line they still seemed to lack that clarity in what would be their best chance to score a try.

Too often tackles were wasted without stretching the Hull defence or moving it around, meaning that too quickly it was time for the cross-field kick towards King or Gelling.

It was fitting that the other try in the first half came about from Wire defence.

After the ball was dislodged in the tackle, Currie was sharp enough to not just pounce on the loose ball but to quickly pass it on and send King racing clear.

From there, the centre timed his pass to Lineham just right to allow the winger to slide over in the corner and be able to back up his words from his humorous interview about Hull – so much more fun than having to eat them.

In the second half, it seemed to dawn on Wire just how much better they were than Hull on the night. Their go-forward and speed of the play the ball was becoming too much for the home side to handle.

From there, confidence grew and half-backs Austin and Widdop both started to look dangerous.

The next two tries came when both centres quickly made up for their own errors.

Early on in the tackle count, King had decided that a grubber kick towards the line was the best option, Hull easily gathered the ball and diffused that Warrington attack.

From the easiest place to play the game from – sat in the stands – the decision to kick never really looked on, but at least he had the creativity to think of it and the confidence to give it a try.

Just a few moments later, King redeemed himself by crashing through three Hull players and producing a delightful offload on the inside for Widdop to score the easiest of tries.

Soon after that, Gelling really should have finished off an excellent move but was thwarted by a last ditch and possibly foul tackle, causing him to lose the ball just before the line.

Again redemption wasn’t long in coming, he was put in almost exactly the same situation a few minutes later and looked like he was putting all the concentration he could muster into making sure he grounded the ball properly that time.

Murdoch-Masila scored a try with a trademark charge through the defensive line that allowed him to stroll under the posts.

Then Austin and Widdop each took a turn taking advantage of an increasingly woeful Hull defence to dummy and jink their way over for their second tries of the match.

With the game well and truly won a few more handling mistakes crept in as Wire attempted to get even more expansive. The last of which allowed Hull to finally score a try in the last minute of the game.

No doubt that will irritate the coaches and players that they didn’t get their second defensive shut-out of the season.

This was definitely one of those wins where Wire earned the right to play.

They did the ugly things well from the start, won the battle down the middle and then took advantage of that with their creativity to rack up the points.

It is unlikely that they will come up against many performances as poor as this one, although one old sporting saying is about teams playing as well as they were allowed to play.

Whilst I wouldn’t give Wire all the credit for Hull’s performance, when you haven’t won away from home in the league for about eight months, then you take any win you can get.

Player for player, Wire do look as dangerous as just about any other team in the league.

If they can keep building on the togetherness and cohesion then there is definitely a chance the season could result in some silverware.