Wolves lose at Wembley as Hull end hoodoo

PICTURES EDDIE WHITHAM

BEN Currie came within inches of being Warrington’s Wembley hero as the Wolves’ treble dreams died with an agonising 12-10 Challenge Cup final defeat to Hull.

Danny Houghton’s tackle on the Warrington second-rower proved to be the decisive moment in a closely fought game as Hull won at Wembley for the first time.

Marc Sneyd was the Lance Todd Trophy winner as his kicking game inspired Hull to fightback from 10-0 down in the final quarter.

It took 33 minutes for the deadlock to be broken in the first half as these two sides went toe to toe for the third time this season, with the previous two meetings also decided by two points.

The first try came off the back of a Chris Sandow interception, he plucked the ball out of the air 20 metres from his own line and almost went the full length of the field before hauled down barely metres short.

Fortunately, he had been backed up by several team-mates, and the following tackles Matty Russell went over by the side of the posts, enabling Kurt Gidley to kick the Wolves to a 6-0 half-time advantage.

#ChallengeCup #ChallengeCupFinal

The try from @mattyrussell3 that separates the sides at the break! pic.twitter.com/rifA8ZdLVt

— The Challenge Cup (@TheChallengeCup) 27 August 2016

A key moment came two minutes in to the second half, as Hull were penalised for holding down Ryan Atkins in their own half, and the Wolves opted to go for goal. Gidley stepped up, and uncharacteristically failed to bag the two points on offer.

After soaking up some pressure, the Wolves once again found the front foot, with Currie forcing a drop out chasing his own kick on 52 minutes.

The pressure told, as Daryl Clark broke through and found Currie to fly down the left flank and stretch the lead to 10-0, Gidley missing the difficult conversion from wide out.

#ChallengeCup #ChallengeCupFinal @BenoCurrie absolutely buzzing after scoring @wolvesrl‘s second 💪 pic.twitter.com/RByyCojO18

— The Challenge Cup (@TheChallengeCup) 27 August 2016

It looked like Warrington had one hand on the trophy, as such was the defensive efforts of both teams that it seemed unlikely that Hull would muster two unanswered scores.

But Sneyd, motivated by his own final agony with Castleford two years ago, had other ideas and kicked a crucial 40/20 to swing the momentum as the game entered the final quarter.

From that resulting field position, Hull got on the scoreboard as Mahe Fonua forced his way over, Sneyd converting from wide out to reduce their arrears to 10-6.

Hull’s tails were up, and five minutes later they thought they were back on level terms. Sneyd’s dabbed kick to the corner was apparently grounded by Steve Michaels, and referee Ben Thaler sent it upstairs. Replays showed that Wolves full-back Stefan Ratchford had got a crucial hand to the ball to knock it dead, and from the resulting drop-out, Hull lost possession and the Wolves breathed a sigh of relief.

But their resolve was to break on 73 minutes, a Sneyd kick out wide was batted back inside by Fonua and eventually the ball found its way inside to Jamie Shaul who raced in and dived behind the sticks, to set up a simple conversion for the unflappable Sneyd to kick Hull in to what would be a winning advantage.

FULL TIME: Hull FC 12-10 Warrington

Shaul’s late try sees @hullfcofficial win a 4th #ChallengeCup! pic.twitter.com/UYYin486Cy

— The Challenge Cup (@TheChallengeCup) 27 August 2016

As time ticked by, with less than two minutes on the clock, Warrington seemed to have the Hull defence stretched on the right and Currie hit a gap, only for a supreme effort by Houghton to drag him to ground, with the ball lost under the pressure of the tackle just as it seemed that momentum would take Currie over and win the game for Warrington.

It meant Wembley heartache for the Wolves, for the first time since 1990, as Hull ended their own hoodoo to lift their fourth Challenge Cup.

After the game Wolves boss Tony Smith admitted everyone at the club would be hurting but they had to take defeat with dignity. He said it had been a great game of Rugby League and his players could not be faulted on performance.

#ChallengeCup #ChallengeCupFinal

Today’s attendance is 76,235 – thank you all for your support! pic.twitter.com/YF92kcDB7i

— The Challenge Cup (@TheChallengeCup) 27 August 2016

Hull FC: Shale, Michaels, Fonua, Yeaman, Tanlanoa, Tuiamavave, Sneyd, Taylor,Houghton, Watts, Manu, Minichelliello, Ellis (c).

Subs: Bowden, Pritchard, Washbrook, Green.

Wolves: Ratchford, Russell, Toby King, Atkins, Evans, Gidley, Sandow, Hill (c) Clark, Sims, Currie, Hughes, Westerman.

Subs: George King, Westwood, Dwyer, Bailey